Maintain Suspension HEK 293 Cells

Suspension HEK 293 cells are commonly used for protein and virus production because they are well characterized, grow heartily in a variety of cell culture media (e.g. serum-free conditions) and are amenable to scale-up in biomanufacturing processes. These workhorses of the cell culture world still require proper care for optimal performance in your next experiment, whether it be for basic science research or for production of biotherapeutics.

Here we review routine cell splitting, preparation for high density transfection, serum-free complete growth media, and how to address cell clumping.