Walkersville, MD, USA / Basel, Switzerland, 6 October 2015 – Lonza, one of the market leaders in primary cells, has announced an increase in recent publications referencing its specialized BulletKit™ Growth and Differentiation Media. These peer-reviewed papers highlight the versatility of the media kits, which are proving especially useful for researchers looking to transition from established cell lines to primary cell culture or when co-culturing different cell types, mostly due to their convenience, adaptability and ease-of-use.
Researchers often work with established cell lines before transitioning to primary cells, as the former are usually easier to culture in the first instance and can serve as an effective stepping stone. However, the subsequent switch to primary cells can be challenging and time-consuming, as the new cells typically require different growth media or the re-optimization of culture conditions. A far better solution would be to use the same media for both cell sources, as this would greatly reduce variability between experiments and simplify the shift from one cell type to another.
Lonza's BulletKit™ Media Kits, such as MEGM™ Media and BEGM™ Media, fill this need. They are supplied in an optimized kit format and have successfully been used to support a wide range of cell types, such as immortalized mammary epithelial cells (MCF10A) and home-grown primary bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B). Many peer-reviewed research articles that now reference BulletKit™ Media demonstrate the true adaptability of these kits and give researchers the confidence to use them as a complete system across all their cells.
The versatility of the media is also important for researchers needing to co-culture different cell types. As an example, a recent publication by Masashi Furukawa and colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, illustrates how Lonza's SAGM™ and BEGM™ BulletKitTM Media, normally recommended for small and large airway epithelial cells, can also be successfully used to culture breast cancer cell lines. This success enabled the team to develop co-culture models to understand the effects of different factors on breast cancer cell lines, while grown in the presence of normal lung epithelial cells. The BulletKitTM Media Kits have also been shown to effectively support a wide array of other cell types in co-culturing experiments.
“Customers frequently ask us which media they should use when culturing their cells, especially when moving from 2D to 3D systems such as our new RAFT™ 3D Culture System, working with co-cultures or when moving from cell lines to primary cells. The large and expanding repository of published research that has leveraged our BulletKitTM Media shows that our kits are an excellent choice for these applications. Our ongoing mission is to make cell culture easier, faster and simpler for our customers, which is something BulletKitTM Media can help to do,” said Lubna Hussain, Senior Product Manager for Lonza Bioscience Research Solutions.
Further information on published research for Lonza's Growth and Differentiation Media BulletKits™ can be obtained by contacting Lonza's Scientific Support Team.