Human serum (sera) samples are a highly effective tool in medical research and clinical studies. They have proven over the years to be suitable for in-vitro and biochemical diagnostic applications. They are also an excellent choice for standards, controls, and calibrators.
Bay Biosciences take pride in offering consistent high-quality human blood serum for research that helps researchers produce innovations and breakthroughs.
What Is Blood Serum?
The serum is the component of blood that is not a blood cell or a clotting factor. It is the carrier for all the endogenous and exogenous liquids that circulate in the blood. It also transports essential substances that include fatty acids and fat-soluble hormones. An example is thyroid hormones, which act on most of the cells that are in the human body.
Serum includes all of the blood proteins such as albumin and other serum proteins that are not used by the body for clotting. Additionally, it contains antibodies, hormones, antigens, electrolytes and substances that pass into the blood stream such as medications or microorganisms.
How Is Blood Serum Used?
Serum is used by scientists and pharmaceutical companies around the world in a range of diagnostic and research applications. Innovations in genetics, drug discovery and creation, biomarker research, molecular diagnostics and more are driven by access to high quality human serum specimens.
Off-the-clot serum is considered an ideal medium for metabolic research because it’s available in the original transfer packs. Researchers can use specialized serums such as human AB serum, which lacks antibodies against the antigens in type A and B blood. This serum is used in tissue engineering and cell therapy applications.
Human complement serum contains activated serum proteins. This is used in biocompatibility experiments.
A wide range of customized samples are available for researchers to fit specific projects and research needs.
How Human Serum Samples Are Collected
Human serum is collection depends on the purpose of the serum. When someone donates blood, the blood can be separated into different parts for a range of therapeutic and research purposes. White blood cells can be used to aid the immune system. Blood plasma, which contains powerful clotting factors, can be administered to patients who are suffering from problems such as liver failure or blood clotting disorders. Human serum is what is left in the blood after these other substances have been removed.
Human serum samples for research are obtained from approved collection centers in our global network of partner hospitals. Our network of partners on three continents assures consistent supply of high quality research materials. All samples are collected with patient or participant consent.
Researchers have choices between two processes:
True Human Serum
Also described as “off the clot,” this process begins with the collection of whole blood. The blood is then allowed to clot naturally at room temperature, without the use of an anticoagulant. A centrifuge is used to separate the serum and remove it. It is then frozen until needed. At each stage of production, it is kept in aseptic conditions to reduce the risk of bacterial contamination. Each donor of true human serum yields about 200 mL of material.
Plasma-Derived Human Serum
Human serum can also be derived from fresh or frozen plasma that has been treated with an anticoagulant. The plasma goes through a dialysis process to remove the anticoagulant. The protein levels are then restored to normal. This type of recovered human serum is considered a useful matrix for positive controls. It can also be stripped of other components for testing, such as insulin or thyroid hormones.
Human serum that Bay Biosciences collect for research is shipped frozen. No preservatives are added unless the customer specifically desires and requests this.
As a leading biobank, Bay Biosciences has an independent quality control department that oversees every aspect of Quality Assurance and compliance. Our high quality clinical grade samples are from unique individual donors. (Pool samples are also available upon request if those fit your specific research needs.)
In addition to normal healthy donor blood serum, we also offer disease state serum and plasma for research.
Samples come with complete clinical histories. If desired, we can also include targeted therapy information or materials from specific cohorts, such as first-time mothers.
Safety and Ethics
Bay Biosciences uses only characterized, consented, and documented human specimens. Customers can rest assured that all samples and clinical data are handled in a way that complies with the highest regulatory and ethical standards. As an industry leader, we are passionate about staying appraised of and in compliance with every applicable law and regulation. Our in-house legal team and an external IRB oversee all domestic collections.
For the safety of everyone who will work with our human serum samples, every sample lot is tested and found negative for:
- HIV
- Hep C
- Hep B
- Syphilis
Have questions about human serum samples? contact us we can discuss the specific research needs of your study sponsor to identify the human serum product that works best.