BEGM (0451)

BEGM (Bronchial Epithelial Growth Medium) is supplied as a complete serum-free medium comprised of essential amino acids, vitamins, inorganic salts, trace elements and growth factors optimized for culturing initial harvest of human airway epithelial cells and for expansion of established cell lines.  BEGM is derived from LHC Basal Medium which is supplemented with growth factors and supplements that eliminate the need for serum.
Cat. No. Product Name Type Unit Price
0451 BEGM Liquid (ready-to-use) 500mL quotation

ALI (0458)

ALI (air-liquid interface) medium is supplied as a complete serum-free medium comprised of essential amino acids, vitamins, inorganic salts, trace elements and growth factors optimized for differentiating human airway epithelial cells.  ALI is derived from a mixture of LHC Basal Medium and DMEM-H Medium which is supplemented with growth factors and supplements that eliminate the need for serum.  ALI has more calcium and less EGF than BEGM.
Cat. No. Product Name Type Unit Price
0458 ALI Liquid (ready-to-use) 500mL $253.00

VALI (0450)

VALI (Vertex modified Air-Liquid Interface) medium is derived from ALI medium.  The VALI version was developed to support drug-discovery using human bronchial epithelial cells in an air-liquid surface model.
Cat. No. Product Name Type Unit Price
0450 VALI Liquid (ready-to-use) 500mL $253.00

BRFF-EPM2™ (0402)

BRFF-EMP2™ is a complete serum-free medium comprised of essential amino acids, vitamins, inorganic salts, trace elements and growth factors optimized for culturing human esophageal epidermal-like and epithelial cell types. EMP2™ has been used for culturing epithelial cells from explant cultures of human skin as well as for culturing a number of human cancer cell lines. Optimal attached monolayer cell growth can be achieved when used in conjunction with FNC Coating Mix®.
Cat. No. Product Name Type Unit Price
0402 BRFF-EPM2™ Liquid (ready-to-use) 500mL $130.00
​Cell Culture Reagents for the Propagation of
​Respiratory Viruses and the Modeling of Viral Infections
Background:
To develop much needed medical interventions, the academic and commercial research communities need the reagents to propagate the viruses and model viral infections with human and mammalian cells.  The coronaviruses and other respiratory viruses are propagated in a number of ways most notably using cultured human airway epithelial cells.  The airway model, in which differentiated airway epithelial cells are cultivated in an air/water interface, is an important in vitro model for investigating a range of lung and tracheobronchial diseases.  The in vitro technique has been used by a number of groups to model viral interactions of the airway.  The culture media used in these models are:
  • EPM-2 – to cultivate epidermal-like and epithelial cells derived from the esophagus.
  • BEGM (bronchial epithelial growth medium) – to cultivate primary and established airway tracheal, bronchial and lung epithelial cells for expansion.
  • ALI (air-liquid interface) – to support growth and differentiation of cultured airway epithelial cells when cultivated on porous supports (airway model).
  • V-ALI (Vertex-ALI) – modified version of ALI for extended cultivation.
History: 
  • 1993 Tom Iype and colleagues at BRFF (Biological Research Faculty & Facility, Inc.) develop EPM2 for cultivating human esophageal cells (Iype et. al. 1993).  EPM2 is a SFM derivative of LHC basal medium.  The medium has been optimized and shown to support the growth of human tracheobronchial and lung epithelial cells.
  • 2002 Athena acquired the BRFF line of serum-free culture media products.
  • 2012 Athena began manufacturing and supplying BEGM, ALI and VALI media as well as custom modifications to its biopharmaceutical partners. 
  • 2018 Athena increased its production capacity EPM-2, BEGM, ALI and VALI media to supply a larger number of researchers needing the culture media used in the airway models.
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Capabilities:
Athena is a primary manufacturer of specialty culture medium.  Our proprietary cell culture media products include a series of serum-free media for the cultivation of a range of different cell types along with media designed for SILAC experiments.  In addition to producing our own products, we provide custom medium production services.  The company specializes in small batch production (5 to 200 liters with expansion to 1,000 liters as needed) and has designed a rapid turnaround manufacturing system that allows us to produce a custom product in under two weeks from receipt of an order.  To date, Athena’s manufacturing team has produced 360 different custom culture media formulations.
References:
coronavirus_reference_list.pdf
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File Type: pdf
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 Accessory Products

Human FNC Coating Mix®
Freezing Media Pair
PET™
Cell Dissociation Reagent
Bovine Pituitary Extract
Human FNC Mix® is a specially formulated serum-free tissue culture reagent containing fibronectin, collagen and albumin that is used to enhance the attachment of adherent cells to plastic flasks or microplates. The unique formula creates an extracellular matrix that dramatically increases the rate of cell attachment to any plastic substratum. The matrix accelerates monolayer formation, especially when fastidious cell types such as human prostrate and breast epithelial cells are being propagated. Mammalian cell cultures will attach and grow more effectively on FNC-coated plastic surfaces when cultured in the appropriate serum-free medium. AthenaES® offers several different serum-free media that when used in conjunction with Human FNC Mix®, increase the growth of cell cultures dramatically.
Athena’s Freezing Media PairTM are a dual-cryopreservation system used to safely store suspensions of viable cells detached from monolayer cultures using the “cold trypsin” method with Athena’s cell dissociation media, PETTM. The pair of solutions thoroughly preserve cells which provides superior cell viability upon reconstitution. This Freezing Media PairTM has been used extensively to cryopreserve a variety of human cell lines grown in serum-free media, including breast and prostate cancer cell lines.
PET™ is a superior cell dissociation reagent specially formulated for use under “Cold Trypsin” conditions. The unique blend of polyvinylpyrrolidone, EGTA, and trypsin in a HBS base allows the trypsin to retain enzymatic activity under cool temperatures, unlike standard trypsin which requires a temperature of 37°C. When used to detach monolayer cultures of epithelial cells from the growth substratum, this reagent yields more viable cells from monolayers grown in serum-free medium than traditional trypsin formulas.
Athena’s Bovine Pituitary Extract is prepared from BSE-free animals. The extracts are prepared from pituitaries harvested from animals in the United States. The pituitaries were obtained only from USDA-inspected facilities where the animals receive pre- and post-mortem inspection and were found to be free of contagious diseases including foot-and-mouth disease, rinderpest, and contagious bovine pleuropneumonia. There are no known cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the herds from which the pituitaries were obtained.
Cat. No. Product Name Type Unit Price
0407H Human FNC Coating Mix® Liquid (ready-to-use) 100mL $274.20
0406 Freezing Media Pair™ Liquid (ready-to-use) 50mL $64.10
0405 PET™ Liquid (ready-to-use) 100mL $98.20
0413 Bovine Pituitary Extract Liquid (ready-to-use) 100mg $228.00
0414 Bovine Pituitary Extract Liquid (ready-to-use) 250mg $498.30
0408 HBS with Phenol Red Liquid (ready-to-use) 500ml $25.30
0409 HBS without Phenol Red Liquid (ready-to-use) 500ml $25.30
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