Invitrogen Launches New Animal Origin Free Substrate for Stem Cells

CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Invitrogen Corporation (NASDAQ:IVGN), a provider of essential life science technologies for research, production and diagnostics, today announced the launch of CELLstart™, the first fully defined, completely animal origin free substrate in the marketplace for the attachment and expansion of embryonic, mesenchymal and neural stem cells. CELLstart™ provides the serum-free and feeder-free scaffold upon which stem cells grow in both research and therapy applications.

“Most substrates today are either of animal origin, are highly variable, or do not support stem cell growth. Researchers need a substrate to provide consistent culture performance, lot to lot, in their move towards using animal origin free products,” said Joydeep Goswami, vice president, stem cells and regenerative medicine. “Using CELLstart™, we have grown stem cells in an undifferentiated state, in a serum-free, feeder-free environment over multiple passages.”

CELLstart™ maintains the stem cell characteristics and differentiation capability of human embryonic stem cells, mesenchymal and neural stem cells. Easy to use, CELLstart™ requires researchers to go through minimal or no changes in processes from current culture methods.

For more information please visit: www.invitrogen.com/stemcell/cellstart.

Invitrogen is the premier supplier of tools and reagents for stem cell research. The company recently launched the STEMPRO® EZChek™ Multiplex PCR Kit which allows scientists to monitor human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) with one reaction, as well as STEMPRO® hESC SFM, a fully-defined, serum-and feeder-free media for the growth and expansion of hESCs, and the STEMPRO® EZPassage™ tool for stem cell passaging. Invitrogen offers researchers more than 1,200 products tailored to various parts of the stem cell research workflow for embryonic and adult stem cell populations.

About Invitrogen

Invitrogen Corporation (NASDAQ:IVGN) provides products and services that support academic and government research institutions and pharmaceutical and biotech companies worldwide in their efforts to improve the human condition. The company provides essential life science technologies for disease research, drug discovery, and commercial bioproduction. Invitrogen's own research and development efforts are focused on breakthrough innovation in all major areas of biological discovery including functional genomics, proteomics, stem cells, cell therapy and cell biology -- placing Invitrogen's products in nearly every major laboratory in the world. Founded in 1987, Invitrogen is headquartered in Carlsbad, California, and conducts business in more than 70 countries around the world. The company employs approximately 4,700 scientists and other professionals and had revenues of approximately $1.3 billion in 2007. For more information, visit www.invitrogen.com.