Media City Scientific - Chemically Defined, Animal-Free Alternatives To Foetal Bovine Serum (FBS) For Cell Culture - Distributed in the UK & Ireland by Caltag
Media City Scientific
Media City Scientific are a small, family-owned company in the beautiful Southern Highlands of NSW, Australia, who develop chemically defined, animal-free alternatives to Foetal Bovine Serum (FBS) for cell culture.
Serum remains a major source of variability in cell culture: undefined components, batch-to-batch differences, ethical concerns and supply instability. Many serum-free alternatives exist, but they are often highly specialised or difficult to adopt.
Media City Scientific was started to offer a different option:
- Defined, batch-consistent formulations
- Compatibility with standard media and workflows
- Clear guidance on where optimisation may be required
- Conservative claims backed by data, not marketing
Their goal is to make moving away from serum achievable, transparent and scientifically defensible.
Media City Scientific have worked directly with a wide variety of scientists to ensure their FRS (Foetal Bovine Serum Replacement Solution) seamlessly integrates into the place of FBS – whatever that looks like for you.
See the Products Available:
FRS™ Pioneer
A chemically defined, broad-spectrum, animal-free replacement for Foetal Bovine Serum (FBS)
FRS™ Pioneer can be added to cell culture media in place of FBS to culture or cryopreserve cells without the use of any animal components or serum. This provides a cleaner background for assays and applications such as exosome capture.
FRS supports both suspension and adherent systems, with cell attachment handled separately on a cell-type-specific basis. Its defined composition allows you to control the presence or absence of biological inputs, such as cytokines or hormones, rather than inheriting undefined serum-derived background.
FRS can replace up to 90% of serum in more nutritionally demanding primary or organoid cell culture systems. Fully serum-free workflows for primary cell culture systems have been developed by pairing FRS with supplemented growth factors, such as GECKO™ and Vitronectin. FRS may also be combined with DMSO for use as a freeze medium in routine cryopreservation workflows.
Hi! I'm a bottle of FRS Pioneer.I'm a replacement for fetal bovine serum that's fully chemically defined and animal-component-free. Here's what I can do: |
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100% reproducible culture for cell linesUse 10% FRS Pioneer + 90% basal media for culture of most standard immortalised cell lines. Clean, consistent results-with no batch effects, ever. Animal-free CryopreservationMix 90% FRS Pioneer + 10% DMSO. Easy, ethical, and sustainable. Make one consistent FBS batch last 10x longerUse 1% FBS + 9% FRS Pioneer + 90% basal media for culture of more nutritionally demanding cells, including primaries. Keep your validated FBS batch 10x longer. |
Features of FRS™ Pioneer:
Drop In
An easy substitute for FBS in your laboratory processes
Broad Spectrum
Grows a wide range of immortalised cell lines
Cost Effective
Priced on par with premium Foetal Bovine Serum
Contaminant Free
Defined inputs align with regulatory demands and simplify downstream planning for clinical settings
Chemically Defined
Ensures batch consistency, research reproducibility, greater experimental control & background-free data
Animal Origin Free
An ethical, sustainable solution free of animal-derived components and associated supply volatility
FRS™ Pioneer has successfully been used to achieve:
- Routine expansion of a broad range of immortalised cell lines (HEK, CHO, JURKAT, MCF7, A549, and many more)
- Cryopreservation when mixed with 10% DMSO
- Cleaner assays (e.g. reduced cytokine background)
- Cell growth in microcarrier systems and on scaffolds
- Transfection of cell lines for recombinant protein production
- Exosome research and manufacturing - no extracellular vesicle depletion necessary
- Reduction of FBS usage to 1% in nutritionally demanding primary and organoid systems
- Optimised, serum-free media for primary cells, by adding additional cell-specific needs to FRS Pioneer (see datasheets)
GECKO™
A chemically defined, animal-free mix of adhesion factors to support adherent cell culture
Foetal bovine serum (FBS) contains a complex mixture of adhesion-promoting factors that enable attachment on standard tissue culture plastic. When culturing cells in serum-free or chemically defined media, these adhesion cues are often no longer present. As a result, many adherent cell types require an explicit surface strategy to support attachment, spreading, and early survival.
Media City Scientific's GECKO™ is a chemically defined and animal component-free mix of lyophilised adhesion factors found in FBS that facilitates attachment of many adherent cell types to standard cell culture plates.
GECKO™ was developed to pair with FRS™ Pioneer as part of a fully chemically defined culture workflow.
Hi! I'm GECKO |
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I replace fetal bovine serum's adhesive properties GECKO is an optimised blend of recombinant adhesion proteins, developed for optimal cell attachment and spreading in serum-free media - including more challenging epithelial lines such as Caco-2 and MCF-7. Media City Scientific provides validated GECKO and recombinant vitronectin for easy cell attachment – as well as personalised support in selecting the right adhesion protein for your cells. |
Using GECKO™ with FRS™ Pioneer allows:
- Separation of growth support (media) from adhesion (surface)
- Greater experimental control
- Reduced background from undefined serum components
- GECKO™ can also be used with other serum-free or reduced-serum media systems.
When to use GECKO™:
- Transitioning from serum-containing media to serum-free or chemically defined media
- Want a single, animal-free coating compatible with many adherent cell lines
- Prefer a reproducible, defined alternative to serum-based pre-coating
- Culturing adherent cells with FRS™ Pioneer and require attachment support
Recombinant Vitronectin
A high-purity, animal-free, recombinant protein to support adherent cell culture
Foetal bovine serum (FBS) contains a complex mixture of adhesion-promoting factors that enable attachment on standard tissue culture plastic. When culturing cells in serum-free or chemically defined media, these adhesion cues are often no longer present. As a result, many adherent cell types require an explicit surface strategy to support attachment, spreading, and early survival.
Vitronectin is recommended for use in stem cell cultures, providing a defined environment that supports the maintenance of pluripotency and is suitable for feeder-free culture, expansion, differentiation, and reprogramming of stem cells, or cell types which respond poorly to fibronectin.
Media City Scientific offers highly pure recombinant human vitronectin which is animal origin free, carrier protein-free and protein tag-free, ensuring lot-to-lot consistency and compatibility with translational studies and iPSC-based model production for screening. The ultra high-purity, with exceptionally low residual endotoxins, makes it suitable for the reproducible culture of stem cells, primary cells, organoids, and use in sensitive neural differentiations.
Hi! I'm Vitronectin |
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I replace fetal bovine serum's adhesive properties Recombinant vitronectin is recommended for cell adhesion for cell lines including Hep2G and A549, as well as many stem cells. Media City Scientific provides validated GECKO adhesion mix and recombinant vitronectin for easy cell attachment in chemically defined media - as well as personalised support in selecting the right adhesion protein for your cells. |
Vitronectin may be paired with FRS Pioneer as part of a fully chemically defined culture workflow.
When to use Vitronectin over GECKO™:
GECKO™ is a mix of recombinant adhesion proteins which contains fibronectin. Some cell types differentiate in response to fibronectin-heavy coatings and GECKO is not suitable for facilitating adhesion in these instances.
Media City Scientific recommends recombinant vitronectin for cell types which are conventionally cultured in FBS without an adherence coating, but which do not respond well to GECKO™ or other fibronectin-based coatings.