I researched an animal-free preparation for cell culture, which led to the recipe being distributed

For human cell growth, dissolution of various components and proteins is required. Since the 1950s, researchers have used fetal calf serum as a protein source. But Stina Oredsson, a professor at the Department of Biology in Lund, has developed an animal-free cell culture medium.

This is partly for ethical reasons, because the most common additive to cell culture media is serum that comes from the fetuses of unborn calves. There are also many scientific reasons, she says.

Human proteins replace calf serum

Instead, it developed a cell culture medium using human proteins produced using accepted genetic engineering.

– The benefits are that we get a completely human environment. If I'm working with human cells, I want a human system in which I can trust my answers. “I think it's great that it's animal-free,” she says.

She is a cancer researcher but also a cell culture educator and became interested in components that could be important for making human cells grow outside the body.

– There have been some animal-free media that contain a secret formula for individual cells since then, but this is a universal medium in which you can grow many different cell types, says Stina Oredsson.

Abandon the “recipe”

Her research team has used it, among other things, in many different toxic cell tests, and they are now publishing the research, the “recipe,” for free.

She says: I want all researchers to benefit.

The research was published in Toxicology reports

Her research has been mainly funded by the Foundation Research without animal testingWhich, in turn, is funded through donations, bequests, and the distribution of research grants to universities and bodies.