Supplementing IMDM Media With Different Amounts Of Fetal Bovine Serum

Since IMDM is a chemically-defined media, it lacks growth factors, proteins, and lipids. To support cell growth, IMDM is often supplemented with fetal bovine serum (FBS) at various levels (e.g., 1 to 10%) depending on the cell line. When using chemically-defined cell media like IMDM supplemented with FBS, media analysis can be burdensome. Interferences arise between the high levels of the proteins in the added FBS with standard chromatography columns. Additional sample preparation may be required to remove and precipitate the proteins from the sample media. These added steps may affect recoveries of the trace media components (e.g., amino acids and vitamins), resulting in issues with conventional analytics approaches for media analysis.

At-line mass spec-based analysis can quickly and confidently screen serum-supplemented media formulations. This test ensures batch-to-batch supplemented media consistency before introducing the media to cell cultures.