Abstract: There is provided a method of inducing pluripotency in a hematopoietic cell. The method comprises providing a blood sample that has been collected from a subject in the absence of any polysaccharide preparation used for separating blood components. The sample is depleted of red blood cells by treating the sample with a hypotonic erythrocyte lysis buffer, in the absence of any polysaccharide preparation used for separating blood components, thus obtaining a remaining cell population. The remaining cell population in the sample is expanded in a hematopoietic expansion medium to obtain an expanded cell population that contains CD71+ cells, and the expanded cell population containing the CD71+ cells is then cultured in the presence of Oct4, Sox2, and Klf4, and optionally c-MYC, in human embryonic stem cell medium to induce pluripotency.