Our serum-free media for HEK293 cells are designed to support robust cell growth, high viability, and reliable protein expression without animal-derived serum. These chemically defined, serum-free formulations help reduce variability, simplify downstream processing, and support scalable cell culture workflows.
How to Choose an HEK293 Serum-Free Medium
Choose the medium according to your production objective:
- Transient recombinant protein or antibody expression: Use TransExp HE02 basal medium with HA02 feed. This chemically defined, serum-free, protein-free, and animal-origin-free system supports rapid expansion, high-density growth, and efficient plasmid transfection of HEK293-derived cells. It is particularly suitable for suspension 293 and Expi293 workflows and uses a convenient single-feed process.
- AAV production: Use VirTrans HE03 basal medium with HA03 feed. HA03 is specifically designed for AAV packaging, and its combination with HE03 supports high-density culture, efficient transfection, and increased AAV yield and vector genome occupancy.
- Lentiviral or general viral-vector production: HE03 is designed to support both lentiviral and AAV production. For lentiviral workflows, HA02 may be paired with HE03 because this combination is formulated to enhance lentivirus production. For AAV-focused processes, HA03 is the preferred starting feed. Compare both feeds at small scale when working with a new cell line, transfection system, or vector construct.
- Format: Select liquid medium for convenience, rapid process development, and small-scale studies. Choose powder for scale-up, shipping efficiency, and longer storage. ExCellBio generally lists a 12-month shelf life for liquid formulations and 24 months for powder when stored as directed
When establishing a new process, compare suitable formulations at small scale based on cell growth, viability, transfection efficiency, protein yield, or viral-vector titer.
| Catalog Number | Description | Datasheet | MSDS |
| HA000-N012 | OptiVitro® 293 Serum-free Feed Medium HA02 | Download | Download |
| HA000-N021 | OptiVitro® 293 Serum-free Feed Medium HA02 (Powder) | Download | Download |
| HA000-N032 | OptiVitro® 293 Serum-free Feed Medium HA03 | Download | Download |
| HA000-N041 | OptiVitro® 293 Serum-free Feed Medium HA03 (Powder) | Download | Download |
| HE000-N052 | OptiVitro® 293 Serum-free Medium TransExp HE02 | Download | Download |
| HE000-N061 | OptiVitro® 293 Serum-free Medium TransExp HE02 (Powder) | Download | Download |
| HE000-N072 | OptiVitro® 293 Serum-free Medium VirTrans HE03 | Download | Download |
| HE000-N081 | OptiVitro® 293 Serum-free Medium VirTrans HE03 (Powder) | Download | Download |