Topic: A universally usable, xeno-free, defined medium for 2D and 3D culturing of normal and cancer cells.
Abstract:
Although live animals are avoided when using cell-culturing methods, these often contain animal-derived components, most commonly fetal bovine serum (FBS). The safety, batch-to-batch variation and ethical problems with FBS are widely acknowledged and therefore worldwide efforts are ongoing to produce FBS-free media.
To overcome these challenges, we use the case of a new universal cell culture medium as an example: Oredsson Universal Replacement (OUR) Medium. The developmental steps and key functions of OUR medium will also be demonstrated, where it is seen to support long-term routine culture of normal and cancer cells. We show growth curves and dose response curves of cells grown in two and three dimensions as well as applications such as cell migration. Cell morphology was studied in real time by phase contrast and phase holographic microscopy time-lapse imaging. Therefore, we demonstrate how OUR medium overcame the challenges and provides a leap towards a universal animal-component-free cell culture medium.
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After graduating in biology at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg in Germany, Tilo Weber worked for three years at a biotechnology company that developed an animal-free endotoxin test. Since 2016, he is a Scientific Officer for animal-free science at the Academy for Animal Welfare of the German Animal Welfare Federation and authored several papers on replacing Fetal Bovine Serum from cell culture. Since 2024, he is a co-editor for a research topic on animal-free cell culture at the scientific journal Frontiers in Toxicology.