Description
Raw Fetal Bovine Serum is a natural product obtained from bovine blood showing significant batch variations due to various environmental influences, e.g. nutrition or health state of animals. Batch-to-batch variations of FBS can have major impact on the reproducibility of scientific results. Diagnovum’s sophisticated treatment during pooling and filtering significantly reduces batch-to-batch variation in FBS Superb. Once successfully tested on a cell line, no further batch testing is usually necessary. Heat-inactivation will inactivate the complement system, antibodies, and other active enzymes. It has to be done in a carefully controlled process to avoid damaging the cells growth-promoting properties of the serum and reducing the formation of unwanted precipitates. The process involves heating the serum in a shaking water bath at exactly +56 °C for 30 minutes. The shaking helps to avoid the formation of protein and other forms of precipitates. After 30 minutes, the serum is then cooled back down to room temperature as quickly as possible to avoid excessive exposure to heat, which can damage, e.g. growth factors and vitamins.
