Nippon Bambanker - Model BB05 -Serum-Free Cryopreservation Media for Long Storage of Cells

Long-term storage of cultured cells

Cryopreservation of mammalian cells is extremely valuable and common in biological research. Fear of losing a cell line to contamination or incubator failure is frequently the impetus for making archival storage of cells a high priority after receiving or generating a new cell line. Once transferred from growth media to freezing medium, the cells are usually frozen at a controlled rate and stored in liquid nitrogen vapor or at -130°C in a mechanical deep freeze. Although freezing a cell line is a commonly performed procedure, problems arise when suitable freezers are not available, or unwanted variables are introduced by the presence of serum, extra-wash or complicated freezing algorithms.

Reasons to trust Bambanker™ cell freezing medium

Save time while saving your cells

The cell freezing media Bambanker™ permits cryopreservation of cells at -80°C (or in liquid nitrogen), obviating the need for an additional and expensive ultralow freezer and avoiding time consuming and complicated controlled freezing protocols. Simply (1) harvest cells, (2) aspirate medium, (3) resuspend in Bambanker™ (4) transfer to a cryovial and (5) store at -80°C. No programmed or sequential freezing is required! Bambanker™ is a serum-free cryopreservation medium that is delivered ready-to-use and can be kept in the refrigerator for up to two years. Convenient 20 ml bottles are available, making Bambanker™ freezing medium ideal for use by individual members of your lab. Today this innovative cell freezing medium Bambanker™ is the market leader in Japan and characterized by many different published articles with very sensitive cell lines all over the world.

Serum adds variation to long-term storage

All Bambanker™ products are produced with no serum. Cryopreservation media which contain sera have the disadvantage of fluctuations in recovery rates and undefined composition. Reproducibility of experiments with cells which were frozen in a serum-containing-medium, could be affected by lot-to-lot variation of the serum since the composition and concentration of proteins and other biological molecules varies with each batch of serum. This may result in issues when thawing and using cells from such serum-containing media. Breathe easy, as every ingredient of Bambanker™ is precisely defined so that you can be confident that cells stored at different times will all behave and recover similarly.

Universal – even for preservation of stem cells

All common cell lines can be preserved resulting in a high number of intact cells after thawing. Recovery rates of  even sensitive cells is much higher compared to regular media. For example the JCRB cell bank stores over 1,400 different cell lines with great success with Bambanker™.

Highest GMP quality

All products of the Bambanker series are manufactured in facilities compliant with current good manufacturing practices (GMP).
The products are subject to a solid quality management system that ensures the consistency, reliability and high quality you can rely on.

Notification: Manufacturer’s notification for Bambanker as GMP-manufactured product (pdf file)

Flexible

There a four different versions of Bambanker™.

• All Bambanker™ types are free of fetal bovine serum (FBS) and have a defined and constant composition.
• They also do not contain antibiotic or antifungal ingredients.

The four different types of Bambanker™ are recommended depending on your specific needs:

Bambanker™ (standard for all cell lines, package units: 20 mL, 5 x 20 mL, 100 mL)

Please note that the 120 mL bottle size (BB01) is no longer available and has been replaced by the new 100 mL bottle size (BB05).

Bambanker™ Direct (for hybridoma cells, package unit: 20 mL)

Bambanker™ DMSO Free (for high sensitivity cells, package unit: 20 mL)

Please note that the 120 mL bottle size (BBH03) is no longer available and has been replaced by the new 100 mL bottle size (BBH04).

Bambanker™ hRM (for ES and iPS cells, package units: 20 mL, 100 mL)

Cell viability and ALP staining of pluripotent stem cells. Upper row: A great number of cells are detected two days after thawing. The cells show no morphological change after thawing. Lower row: Bambanker^TM does not cause cell differentiation as all stem cells frozen down are still producing high levels of alkaline phosphatase, a reporter for pluripotent stem cells.

Comparison of Bambanker™ with another cryopreservation medium for the cultivation of 1,400 different cell lines

The JCRB cell bank handles approximately 1,400 different cell lines. A low survival rate after thawing frozen cell lines (KHYG-1, KAI3, HL60, OVMANA) has let them to test Bambanker™ and compare it to the up to then used preservation medium for the four cell lines. The growth efficiency after thawing was compared for cells stored with the currently used commercially available preservation medium and Bambanker™.

All cultured cells were harvested in the logarithmic growth phase. 1 ml preservation media was added to approximately 1 x 10⁶ cells in a storage tube. The cells were stored for 2 weeks at -80°C. The frozen cells were thawed in an 37°C water bath and incubated at 37°C and 5% CO₂ in a 96-well plate. Every day the viable cell number was determined.

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