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Commercially
available media – the hidden pitfalls of proprietary formulations
Liz Stewart , Senior Product Manager at Qkine gives her view on
the problems with proprietary media formulations.
Currently,
the trend is shifting towards fully proprietary supplements
tailored to specific stem cell and organoid types. These can be
appealing, particularly for labs starting out with a new stem cell
or organoid type, as they are a quick and pre-tested solution which
reduces the need for lengthy optimization. This is particularly
valuable when working with precious patient samples, where
time-consuming protocol development isn’t feasible. Increasingly,
however, we hear regrets from labs that have relied on such
proprietary media formulations.
Reliance on
proprietary media supply can lead to a host of issues down the
line:
·
What is in
it?
Formulations with no transparency in contents and no recipe, give
no scope for refinement or optimization.
·
What is the
source? Commercial
media formulations often contain multiple growth factors, but very
few companies manufacture these proteins. So where do the growth
factors in these formulations come from? How pure are they?
·
Supply and
cost. Supply
issues when relying on a specific reagent from a single source,
particularly if it is short dated can lead to projects being put on
hold, and costs can make scale-up expensive or impossible.
For
researchers looking to move away from proprietary formulations to
enable protocol refinement and scalability, the question is: when?
There is rarely a good time, especially when resources are limited,
but the sooner the switch is made, the less painful it will be in
the long run.
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