Universal Serum-Free Growth Media Designed to Support Multiple Cell Types

The current growth media used for cultured meat and biomedical research involves the use of animal-derived Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS). FBS is the liquid fraction harvested from the blood of cow fetuses which largely contributes to the high cost, ethical concerns and food safety aspects in the cultivated meal industry. 

Serum-free replacements that are alternative to FBS are expensive and the performance of the serum-free replacements do not perform similarly across the range of cell lines. 

This technology consists of a serum-free growth media which will be more cost-efficient than commercially available serum-free replacements. This serum-free growth media is formulated to allow proliferation of muscle, fat and connective tissue consistently and efficiently, hence eliminating the need of multiple serum-free growth media for different cell types.  

Media development companies, companies and research institutes growing human cells for biomedicine purpose or animal cells for cellular agriculture could benefit from this technology.    

This technology consists of a serum-free media that promote cell growth without expensive nutrients. An universal growth media suitable for multiple cell type is now possible.  

Based on the optimization process, this growth media is formulated to match the growth rate of FBS media for multiple cell-lines (myoblasts, fibroblasts and adipocytes). Production can comply with FSSC22000 and cGMP if required. 

Technology features include:

• An universal serum for mammalian cells, including bovine and porcine
• Serum-free ingredients
• Demonstrated performance on 17 different surface coatings including gelatin, laminin and vitronectin
• Good batch-to-batch consistency
• No cell adaptation required when transitioning from FBS media
• Cells maintain high viability and growth rate over multiple passages and the ability to differentiate using standard protocols

Potential applications include:

• cell culture for biomedical research
• therapeutic development
• cosmetic testing
• cellular agriculture

Applications for cellular agriculture includes: cell proliferation, assessing degredation properties of scaffolding, growing skin models for toxicology testing, improving experimental consistency and reliability.

The company has plans to achieve FSSC22000 certification and remove all animal-derived ingredient in the near-future. 

Unlike other similar solution, this technology achieves high growth rates and great versatility across different cell types and species. The formulation is serum-free and offers low batch-to-batch variability. Compared to other serum-free growth media, this technology can be used on multiple cell types and is estimated to be 30% cheaper. The company’s growth medium offers the opportunity to achieve more consistent results, accelerate research with reduced costs, and bring products to market sooner.