Fetal Bovine Serum - Optima, Gamma Irradiated

When using fetal bovine serum to supplement into cell culture medium there is low risk for introducing contaminating agents, such as adventitious viruses or mycoplasma. Treating serum with gamma irradiation is a common method to reduce pathogen burden while maintaining the performance integrity of fetal bovine serum. Gamma irradiation has been reported to result in a 6-8 log reduction in contaminating agents in serum. Gamma irradiated fetal bovine serum is often required in biomanufacturing workflows to reduce the risk of contamination for virus or vaccine production.
FBS – Optima, Gamma Irradiated is exposed to a Cobalt-60 source of irradiation, delivered at a dose of 25.0 – 40.0 kGy, which has been shown to remove up to 6 logs of many contaminating pathogens. Irradiation is performed following production and bottling of FBS – Optima, R&D Systems US-origin and USDA-APHIS certified fetal bovine serum. Optima FBS is manufactured in ISO 9001:2015 certified facility.
Gamma Irradiated fetal bovine serum should be stored and handled correctly to assure long-term stability and to preserve growth performance consistency throughout its shelf-life. In addition, heat inactivation of serum is frequently desired to inactivate complement within the serum. Below are protocol links for serum storage/handling and heat inactivation.
Protocol for Heat Inactivation of Serum Products.
Protocol for Fetal Bovine Serum Storage, Thawing, and Freezing.