# Improving the clarification, characterization, and homogeneity of animal serum through Nanotrap nanoparticle technology

> **NIH NIH R43** · CERES NANOSCIENCES, LLLP · 2020 · $224,879

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Cell culture techniques have, and will continue to, significantly contribute to many of areas of biomedical science
and research that will benefit humans and animals. In most cases, the supplementation of minimal culture media
with animal-derived products, e.g., animal serum, is essential for proper cell growth. Serum is the centrifuged
fluid component of either clotted or defibrinated whole blood taken from domestic cattle. It provides hormone
factors for cell growth and proliferation and provides all of the essential factors needed for maintaining a favorable
growth environment. Among several common animal sera, fetal bovine serum (FBS) has been the most widely
used and is viewed as a critical reagent for the success of current scientific research and discovery. Despite its
widespread use, FBS has a number of well-appreciated problems; it is heterogeneous, with great variety from
lot to lot, and is frequently contaminated with things like endotoxins, mycoplasma, bacteria, and/or viruses.
Variability and contamination significantly affect the reproducibility of experiments and the safety of products.
Better quality control methods are needed to eliminate and detect the presence of serum contaminants,
especially from large batches of serum and in a high-throughput manner. In response to this need, Ceres
Nanosciences, Inc. has devised a solution leveraging its innovative and proprietary Nanotrap technology, which
consists of customizable hydrogel microspheres that have widespread applicability in other fields for separating,
targeting, stabilizing, and enriching target analytes from biofluids. Based on supporting proof-of-concept data
and through three specific aims, Ceres proposes a Phase I SBIR to evaluate the feasibility of using Nanotrap
particles to improve the extraction and detection of common contaminants from serum, and to investigate the
integration of Nanotrap technology into a scalable, higher-throughput workflow that is able to be used with large-
batch volumes of serum. If successful, the application of this technology could significantly impact the way serum
is produced by: accelerating the processing time needed to satisfy regulatory requirements; improving the ability
to detect and remove contaminants; and streamlining the workflow between serum collection and sale. This work
would then also improve the overall quality of serum being used by the industry, thus helping to improve this
essential resource for all applications of cell and tissue culture.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9906315
- **Project number:** 1R43GM135943-01
- **Recipient organization:** CERES NANOSCIENCES, LLLP
- **Principal Investigator:** Benjamin Scott Lepene
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $224,879
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-02-01 → 2021-05-17

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9906315

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9906315, Improving the clarification, characterization, and homogeneity of animal serum through Nanotrap nanoparticle technology (1R43GM135943-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9906315. Licensed CC0.

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