I would like to know a cheaper and reliable supplier for growth factors used in stem cell research.
Any comment is appreciated.
Thanks.

We are long time consumer of R&D system's growth factors for routine cell culture work. They provide quality and reliable products however are extremely expensive.

Recently, we shifted to another cheaper vendor called Epoch Biolabs. Their growth factors bFGF, EGF, HGF, SCF, IL-3, IL-6, thrombopeitein....work as good as R&D in our ES line, and even show longer-lasting activity when added to DMEM/F12 medium and store at 4 degree (for upto 3 weeks).
You may want to consider it.

We have tried growth factors from Sigma, Cell Sciences and Peprotech, their products are not quite stable from batch to batch. The difference of kinase activation, reporter gene assay... in our hands can be more than 10-fold by different batches. R&D may be the best but it's too expensive for us.

I'm glad to learn Epoch Biolabs (never hear the name before)provide cheap and quality product. How long have you switched to their products?

We switched to Epoch biolabs since November and the results are pretty consistent based on gene profiling (real time rt-pcr), in situ hybridization and IHC analysis.

I also have good experience with Epoch's IGF-1, TNF-a and IL-1b. They are quite potent and highly specific, we applied these factors on animal models with reproducible and satisfactory results. Serum TNF and IL-1 (human) can still be detected 60 days post-injection.

We mostly use R&D as well, but have switched to Cell Sciences for EPO and have purchased some cytokines (FL) from Peprotech. We have not noticed any obvious quality issues, but we do tend to use them at plateau levels for cell growth, so any modest differences may not be observed.

Interesting thread, I 'd like to hear other peole's experiences.

My company is a primary cell line provider in UK and routinely maintains lots of cells. We have been using various growth factors from different sources. Epoch biolabs is definitely one of the best in money-for-quality, consistency and activity.
However, they did not do a good job on promoting their products, many people still don't even hear their name yet, but we know for the fact that several brand name suppliers obtain their products from Epoch and re-badged under their own brand (OEM outsourcing). Probably that's why they need to keep it such low-key.

Hi, CSHL,

Are you willing to share the info - which brand name suppliers got their products from Epoch Biolabs? We could save some real money here if we can purchase directly from the manufacturer. I check epoch's website, they only carry small fraction of growth fcators and cytokines?? why?

Brown1,

Sorry, due to the CDA we've signed with Epoch, we can not release this info....
Epoch biolabs actually carry tons of product lines covering growth factors, cytokines, recombinant cellular and viral proteins and the corresponding antibodies etc.. but they probably not willing to publicly compete with their OEM clients according to their agreement. That's all I can tell you. If you like, email your inquiry to Epoch will be a way. I know they also sell to individual customer from academic.