{"id":2883,"date":"2026-08-22T15:45:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T14:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seamlessbio.de\/?page_id=2883"},"modified":"2026-08-23T01:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T00:02:13","slug":"what-is-fbs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/seamlessbio.de\/de\/what-is-fbs\/","title":{"rendered":"What is FBS"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Quick Definition<\/p>\n

What is FBS (Fetal Bovine Serum)?:<\/strong> Fetal bovine serum (FBS) is the cell-free fraction of blood collected from bovine fetuses, used as a supplement in cell culture media to support cell growth, proliferation and survival. It is the most widely used serum supplement in biomedical research and biopharmaceutical manufacturing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

What is FBS used for?<\/h2>\n

FBS is added to basal cell culture media (DMEM, RPMI 1640, MEM, F-12) to create a complete growth medium. It provides the complex mixture of growth factors, carrier proteins, and nutrients that most mammalian cells require to survive and proliferate in vitro. Without serum supplementation, most cell lines cannot maintain viability for more than 24\u201348 hours.<\/p>\n\n

Key applications include: cancer cell line maintenance, primary cell culture, hybridoma production, viral vector manufacturing (AAV, lentivirus, adenovirus), vaccine production, stem cell research, and toxicology assays.<\/p>\n\n

Why are there different FBS grades?<\/h2>\n

Standard FBS contains 50\u2013200 \u00b5g\/mL bovine IgG, 1\u201310 EU\/mL endotoxin, and trace amounts of tetracycline \u2014 all of which interfere with specific assay types. Specialised grades remove or reduce these components for applications where they would confound results:<\/p>\n