A Chemically-Defined Baculovirus-Based Expression System for Enhanced Protein Production in Sf9 Cells

The Baculovirus Expression Vector System (BEVS) is one of the major platforms for recombinant protein production. Unlike mammalian expression systems that have long since transitioned to serum-free, chemically-defined culture media, relatively little innovation has taken place in insect expression systems, with insect cells continuing to rely on undefined, yeastolate-containing culture media that can exhibit significant lot-to-lot variability in terms of both cell growth and protein expression.  Here, we present the development of a novel Sf9-based Baculovirus expression system based on a high-density, chemically-defined culture medium, a high-expressing Sf9 cell line and expression enhancers that allow for the consistent production of recombinant proteins with two-fold or greater improvements in protein titers compared to traditional BEVS workflows.