Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) has been a vital and historically irreplaceable serum supplement for cell culture media. Limitations including inherent contaminants and batch inconsistency alongside high and volatile prices are well known to scientists. This makes its use undesirable in research and clinical settings.

Media City Scientific’s Fetal Bovine Serum Replacement Solution (FRS™ Pioneer) is a drop-in chemically defined and animal component free FBS replacement. FRS™ Pioneer supports the growth of a broad range of cell types.

FRS™ Pioneer is a drop-in, chemically defined FBS replacement that is:
> Cost effective – priced on par with premium FBS
> Consistent – enabling scientific reproducibility and reliability
> Animal-free – contains no animal derived components
> Effective – supports a broad range of cells at a similar level of performance to FBS

FRS Pioneer versus FBS for immortalized cell culture

Following a direct adaptation process, a range of common immortalized cells were cultured in 2-10% FBS or FRS™ Pioneer for >30 days. FRS™ Pioneer supports minimal morphological changes and long-term cell proliferation, unlike basal media alone. Analyses indicate viability, surface marker expression, intracellular signaling and downstream function are maintained between cells cultured with FBS and FRS™ Pioneer.

Cell lines grown with FRS™ Pioneer for 6+ weeks:

• A549 (Lung cancer)
• Caco2 (Intestinal)*
• CHO (Ovary)
• HEK293 (Embryonic kidney)
• HepG2 (Liver)
• MCF7 (Breast cancer)*
• MDA-MB-231 (Breast cancer)
• U87 (Glioblastoma)
• Jurkat (T-cell)
• MM.1R (B-cell)
• HL-60 (Macrophage)
• NB4 (Macrophage)

*Line may benefit from 1-2 passages in 1% FBS + 9% FRS + basal media before carefully managing adherence (see GECKO). All cell lines tested to date grow successfully.

​Example: Morphology of selected cell lines following >10 passages in culture containing 10% FBS or 10% FRS™ Pioneer.

Key Application Notes

1. Adaptation: Plate cells in FBS-containing media. 24 hours later (as cells enter exponential growth) perform a 100% feed to FRS™ Pioneer-containing media. Sequential adaptation methods are also successful. Consider adherence from the first fully serum-free passage.
2. Use 5-fold less antibiotics
3. Adherence: Coat plates with GECKO™ by Media City Scientific or a cell-line specific adherence coating. Conditioned media may be sufficient for ECM-producing cells.
4. Replace FBS 1:1 with FRS™ Pioneer
5. Basal Media: Cell proliferation in FRS™ Pioneer may be improved by using a more complex media (e.g. DMEM/F12 for DMEM).

FRS Pioneer supports cell line proliferation

JURKAT and HL-60 in RPMI with 10% FCS, 10% FRS™ Pioneer, or 9% FRS + 1% FCS. Cells were grown for >10 passages, then assessed for viability and cell surface marker expression.

​Example: MCF7 in DMEM/F12 with 10% FBS or 10% FRS™ Pioneer. GECKO adherence coating. Equivalent results achieved when surfaces were coated with FBS-containing media.

​Example: CHO in DMEM with 5% FBS or 5% FRS™ Pioneer. GECKO adherence coating. Equivalent results achieved when surfaces were coated with FBS-containing media.

Please note: Adherent CHO in FBS may achieve higher cell densities when grown past confluency. During the exponential growth phase, cell growth rates align