The Insect Cell Expression Core at the iHuman Institute was founded in 2013. The core was designed to systematically express eukaryotic proteins including GPCRs utilizing Baculovirus Expression System. Upon requests from internal researchers and our partnering institutions, we generate viruses and biomasses with trusted methods and analysis. This essential resource facilitates the research process, hence aiding researchers in structural biology, protein function and drug discovery.
As important drug targets, structural studies of GPCRs require pure, homogenous and fairly large amount of proteins, often exceeding milligram quantities. We have established a High-Throughput Baculovirus expression system for GPCR expression and stability screening and large-scale protein production. It usually takes six days to complete transfection of the virus and 40mL biomass expression, and two more days to acquire large scale biomasses. We are currently culturing six insect cell lines: sf9, sf21, High-Five, super sf9-1, super sf9-2 and super sf9-3. Sf9 cell line is our default for GPCRs expression screening and production, while other cell lines are available for optimization of some special targets.
Our vision is to build the most efficient and productive BV expression research core facility providing the best support and service to researchers.
The Super Sf9 cells are transgenic insect Sf9 cells that have been engineered to stably express an additional protein. The presence of this protein leads to improved longevity and increases recombinant protein production in baculovirus infected Super Sf9 cells compared to standard Sf9 cells.
Service includes: transfection, 40 mL biomass, titer, large scale biomass, optimization, antibody expression, GFP protein expression, and secretory protein expression
Training system includes: thawing/freezing cells; transfection; expression (40 mL); titer; culture happy cell; tips for cell culture; contamination avoidance; and mycoplasma detection.
