Growth factors are essential in cell culture applications for regulating the maintenance, proliferation, and development of cells. These proteins bind to specific receptors on the surface of cells, triggering various signalling pathways that promote cell growth and survival. Therefore, growth factors are added to culture medium in research to obtain an optimal environment for cell health and growth.

However, variations in endotoxin contamination can significantly impact cell viability. Even at low concentrations, endotoxins can elicit strong immune responses and induce cell stress or death, thereby compromising the consistency and reproducibility of experimental results.

To mitigate these adverse effects, the use of endotoxin-free and animal-free growth factor alternatives is crucial and offer several benefits:

• Enhanced Cell Viability: By eliminating endotoxin contamination, scientists can reduce the risk of cell stress and death, leading to healthier and more viable cell cultures.
• Reproducibility: Endotoxin-free conditions help maintain consistent experimental conditions, ensuring that results are reproducible across different experiments and laboratories.
• Ethical Considerations: Animal-free growth factors align with ethical guidelines by reducing the use of animal-derived products, supporting more humane and sustainable research practices.

Core Biogenesis is dedicated to addressing these challenges associated with cell culture by developing innovative raw materials for stem cell research. They have developed one of the largest bioproduction platforms in Europe to produce plant-derived recombinant proteins. This platform is designed to simplify and accelerate the mass production and purification of sustainable, high-performance cell culture growth factors, while significantly reducing production costs.

An example of their current product offering is FGF-2-TOP®, a recombinant growth factor produced mainly in fibroblasts, endothelial cells, and smooth muscle cells. FGF-2 is an essential component in Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells culture (iPSC), as one of the main media components for maintaining pluripotency. FGF-2-TOP® differs from standard FGF-2 as it is thermostable, offering a novel way to culture cells more efficiently with fewer media changes since it maintains full biological activity for up to 20 days. The stable level of FGF-2 in culture allows for a more homogeneous, undifferentiated stem cell culture, while saving researchers valuable time and money as repeated supplementation with FGF-2 is not required.

Benefits of FGF-2-TOP®

• Thermostability: FGF-2-TOP® maintains its full biological activity for up to 20 days, reducing the need for frequent media changes.
• Efficiency and Cost-Effectiveness: The reduced need for frequent media changes and supplementation translates to significant savings in time and resources for researchers.
• Improved Culture Homogeneity: A stable level of FGF-2-TOP in the culture medium ensures a more homogeneous and undifferentiated stem cell population, which is critical for reliable and reproducible results.

Research Findings

In a recent study completed by TreeFrog Therapeutics, it was found that the sustained stability of FGF-2 not only maintained the pluripotency of iPSCs but also facilitated robust expansion and differentiation capabilities in cell culture. This provides a foundation for reliable and reproducible experimental outcomes, which are essential for furthering our understanding of stem cell biology and harnessing the full potential of iPSCs.

This enables researchers to focus on the use of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells culture in practical applications such as tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and cell therapy in a cost-effective manner.

In summary, Core Biogenesis' FGF-2-TOP® represents a significant advancement in stem cell technology, offering a sustainable, thermostable growth factor that enhances the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of stem cell research while ensuring consistent and high-quality cell cultures.