today announced the release of , the first defined, animal component-free (ACF) and serum-free medium for culturing human (MSCs). MesenCult™-ACF Medium supports long-term growth of MSCs with retention of multi-lineage differentiation potential. In addition, MSCs cultured in MesenCult™-ACF Medium expand faster and show a significant reduction in hematopoietic cell contamination at early passages compared to serum-containing media.
“ is a very important addition to our product portfolio and indicates our strong interest in remaining at the cutting edge of scientific and preclinical work in the stem cell arena,” says Dr. Allen Eaves, President and CEO of STEMCELL Technologies.

There is considerable interest in using as therapeutic agents for the treatment of a wide variety of diseases. Because of this clinical interest, there is a need to culture the cells in animal component-free culture systems, in order to minimize the risk associated with disease transmission and immune rejection of transplanted cells. The availability of will greatly facilitate advances in efforts to assess the therapeutic relevance of mesenchymal stem cells.
Furthermore, the removal of undefined components within the medium reduces the variability traditionally associated with culture of these cells and allows for more consistent research and development work on this very important cell type.

About STEMCELL Technologies

, a privately-owned biotechnology company, is a leader in specialty cell culture media, cell separation products and ancillary reagents for life science research. Driven by science, STEMCELL delivers over 900 products to more than 70 countries worldwide. To learn more about how STEMCELL helps to make research work, visit .

Note: Please be advised that we have changed the name of MesenCult™-ACF to MesenCult™-XF. The product formulation and performance has NOT changed.
The change from “animal component-free” to “xeno-free” (XF) nomenclature is to highlight the following feature: xeno-free products are considered “humanized”. They may contain ingredients derived from human sources and any recombinant materials must correspond to human genetic sequences.