Tools for the job

Fun fact: The cell culture media you’re probably using was invented before the moon landing.

BME, 1957
DMEM, 1959
RPMI, 1966

Here we are, still using them as the defaults for human cell culture, despite the fact that we have learned so much more about the human body in the past 60-70 years.

Enter Plasmax, 2019.

Frankly, I’m shocked that it’s not more widely used because it’s a delightfully simple concept; profile human plasma, then recreate it in basal media form. If you want cells to behave like they do in the body, give them something that actually resembles the body.

Plasmax is a great reminder that so many of the standard “best practices” we’ve inherited in science were built with the tools and knowledge of their time. As our knowledge and capabilities improve, so should our tools.

Don't get me wrong, the original basal media still very much have their place, but let's select our tools deliberately rather than relying on defaults.

My two cents? If you’re a scientist studying metabolism, cancer biology, or drug discovery, this is one of those innovations worth paying attention to.

All the details can be found in Vande Voorde J, et al. Sci Adv. 2019
​https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6314821/