Serum-Free: The Ultimate Solution For Adherent Cell Culture

Recently, a review clearly stated that there is almost no justification for continuing to use FBS, with its title being equally straightforward: Fetal Bovine Serum: How to Leave It Behind in the Pursuit of More Reliable Science.

 

The article summarizes the core drawbacks of FBS:

1.Undermines result reliability: Derived from the fetal environment, FBS contains abundant hormones and growth factors that "reprogram" cells, altering their original gene expression, morphology, and function. This prevents experimental results from truly reflecting physiological or pathological states and may even lead to erroneous conclusions.
2.Poor reproducibility: FBS has a complex, ill-defined composition with significant batch-to-batch variations. Even different batches from the same manufacturer exhibit inconsistent quality.
3.Contamination risks: FBS may carry contaminants such as viruses (e.g., avian influenza virus), prions, bacteria, fungi, and endotoxins, posing substantial biosafety risks to cell culture and subsequent clinical applications.
4.Opaque production: The global production volume and supply chain of FBS lack transparency. Historical scandals involving forged geographical origins and adulteration have made traceability extremely difficult.
5.Economic inefficiency: FBS is expensive with volatile prices. Its supply and costs are highly tied to the beef/dairy market, making it vulnerable to disruptions from epidemics, policies, trade wars, and other factors. This hinders stable long-term cost planning.
6.Ethical dilemmas: FBS collection involves slaughtering pregnant cows and extracting blood from fetal hearts, causing suffering to both cows and fetuses. This contradicts the scientific ethics of reducing animal distress.

 

Thus, phasing out FBS has become an inevitable choice for pursuing reliable, safe, and ethical science. The review also presents numerous successful cases of serum-free culture across various fields, including antibody production, vaccine manufacturing, stem cells, cultured meat, organoids, 3D bioprinting, toxicological research, and cell cryopreservation (see figure below).

BioEngine has maintained a sustained focus on the R&D and production of serum-free media for animal cells. Leveraging the nearly 40 years of knowledge accumulation and technological expertise of its R&D team in the cell culture field, the company has launched over 150 serum-free media products. These products essentially cover all major cell types used in the production of biopharmaceuticals such as antibodies, vaccines, and cell and gene therapies (CGT), including CHO, HEK293, Sf9, High Five, MDCK, Vero, BHK, MDBK, PK15, immune cells, and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). With performance significantly outperforming imported brands, BioEngine's products have stood out in numerous projects.

 

However, amid the widespread adoption of serum-free suspension cell culture processes today, numerous adherent cells still rely on the traditional "basal medium + 10% serum" model, inevitably enduring various associated risks and uncertainties. To address this challenge, BioEngine proudly launches ACgro Adherent Cell CD Medium-specifically designed for adherent cells to overcome serum dependence. It provides a chemically defined (CD), animal-component-free (ACF) cell culture process solution, safeguarding the safety and stability of your processes from the source.

Product Features:Serum-free, chemically defined (CD), and animal-component-free (ACF).

Applications:Suitable for the long-term stable passage of Vero cells under serum-free culture conditions.
Applicable for the long-term stable passage of adherent cells (e.g., MDCK, DF-1, ST, Marc145, HEK293) under low-serum (1%-3%) culture conditions.
Compatible with the production of various human and veterinary vaccines, including rabies vaccine, hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD) vaccine, herpes zoster vaccine, varicella vaccine, etc.
Adaptable to adherent cell culture processes such as cell factories, microcarriers, and microcarrier sheets.

 

Product Advantages:

Safe and Stable, Ensuring Vaccine Production Reliability:Chemically defined composition eliminates batch-to-batch variations caused by serum.Supports stable cell passage with high viability (>90%) even at high passages (>50).Higher success rate in process scale-up.

Controllable Costs, Reducing Comprehensive Production Expenses:Avoids risks associated with serum price volatility.Eliminates serum-related testing, saving quality control (QC) costs.Reduces contamination risks and minimizes production losses.

Compliant and Worry-Free, Meeting Regulatory Requirements:Animal-component-free (ACF), aligning with biopharmaceutical raw material standards.Certified under ISO13485 + MDSAP quality management systems; production adheres to GMP requirements.Provides complete regulatory documentation support for product registration.

Professional Customization, Optimizing Vaccine Development Processes:Independently developed medium formulations, customizable for specific projects or requirements.Backed by 40 years of R&D experience and over 100 vaccine project cases, offering professional technical services.

 

Product Performance:

1.Ensures Optimal Cell Status and Reduces Process Risks:Microscopic observation shows that Vero cells cultured in ACgro CD Medium exhibit clear and intact morphology with uniform appearance, which is comparable to those cultured in traditional 10% serum or serum-free media from other brands.

 

2.Higher Viable Cell Density, Enabling Larger Batch Capacity:In batch culture processes, ACgro CD Medium also delivers excellent performance. The maximum viable cell density (VCD) it supports (nearly 50×10⁴ cells/cm²) is significantly higher than that of serum-free media from other brands (by approximately 20%) and the traditional serum-containing culture method (MEM + 10% FBS) (by nearly 2-fold).

 

3.High Cell Expansion Efficiency, Shortening Project Cycles:Under the same culture conditions, the doubling time of Vero cells in ACgro CD Medium is 23 hours, which is comparable to that of the traditional serum-containing culture method (MEM + 10% FBS) and significantly shorter than that of serum-free media from other brands.

 

4.Significantly Enhances Viral Titer, Reducing Vaccine Production Costs:In ACgro CD Medium, the titer of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) reaches 10⁸·¹¹ TCID₅₀/mL, which is significantly higher than that in the traditional culture method (MEM + 10% FBS) and serum-free media from other brands.

In ACgro CD Medium, the yield of pseudorabies virus (PRV) reaches 10⁸·⁵ TCID₅₀/mL, which is comparable to that in traditional serum-containing culture (DMEM + 2% FBS) and significantly higher than that in serum-free media from other brands.

 

5.Efficient Production of Human Vaccines via Perfusion Culture Process:In ACgro CD Medium, human vaccine viruses are produced using the perfusion culture process. Results show that the viral titer has maintained a stable level of approximately 8.00 lg (FFU/mL) since Day 3 post-inoculation and remained at this high level until the end of the entire culture cycle.