Bovine Serum Albumin - US (2025)

Bovine Serum Albumin - US (1)

What is Bovine Serum Albumin?

Bovine serum albumin (BSA) is a soluble monomeric protein (66.5 kDa) synthesized in the liver. BSA stabilizes extracellular fluid volume and is a carrier for a variety of small molecules, including steroids, fatty acids, and thyroid hormones in serum. In addition, BSA protein can serve as an antioxidant, trapping harmful free radicals.

Bovine serum albumin is used in many laboratory procedures:

  • Used as a standard for protein quantification
  • Used as a blocking reagent for immunoassays
  • Added as a stabilizing component to restriction enzyme digest reactions
  • Added to antibody solutions for increased antibody stability and longevity
  • Supplemented into cell culture media for enhanced nutrition

BSA selection guide

What is bovine serum albumin used for in cell culture?

Supplementation of cell culture media with BSA protein can benefit cell growth and survival, especially when using serum-free media. Bovine serum albumin binds essential molecules present in the media (e.g., fatty acids, hormones, peptides), allowing for efficient delivery of these molecules into cultured cells. The antioxidative properties of BSA protein can also reduce cellular stress and damage.

Thermo Fisher Scientific offers a variety of Gibco BSA products optimized for supplementing cell culture media, including AlbuMAX Lipid-Rich BSA, which can reduce or eliminate the need for supplementation of cell culture media with serum.

Order bovine serum albumin for your cell culture experiments

Why is bovine serum albumin used for blocking?

BSA proteinis also commonly used for blocking during immunoassays, including ELISA and western blotting. As a single protein, BSA is less likely to exhibit cross-reactivity with antibodies than milk, which is a complex protein mixture. In addition, BSA protein, which is generally unphosphorylated, is often recommended for assays involving anti-phosphoprotein antibodies. Anti-phosphoprotein antibodies may nonspecifically bind phosphorylated proteins found in milk blockers (i.e., casein). However, anti-phosphoprotein antibodies are unlikely to bind BSA, reducing background.

Blocker BSA in PBS and Blocker BSA in TBS are both available from Thermo Fisher Scientific as valuable additions to your immunoassay protocols.

Fluorescent BSA proteins for tracer studies

Thermo Fisher Scientific offers bovine serum albumin conjugated to fluorescent tags, which can be used for tracer studies in combination withanti-BSA antibodies. In addition, BSA fluorescent conjugates can be used in quantitative studies of electroporation, and also to measure plasma in rats.

Order bovine serum albumin and BSA antibodies for your cell culture tracer studies

BSA selection guide

ApplicationNameSizeFormPurificationCat. No.
Bovine Serum Albumin - US (2)

Cell culture

Bovine Albumin Fraction V (7.5% solution)100 mLLiquid15260037
Bovine Serum Albumin - US (3)

Cell culture

AlbuMAX I Lipid-Rich BSA25 gPowderChromatographical (IgG content ≤0.1%)11020021
Bovine Serum Albumin - US (4)

Cell culture

AlbuMAX I Lipid-Rich BSA1 kgPowderChromatographical (IgG content ≤0.1%)11020039
Bovine Serum Albumin - US (5)

Cell culture

AlbuMAX II Lipid-Rich BSA25 gPowderChromatographical (IgG content ≤1.0%)11021029
Bovine Serum Albumin - US (6)

Cell culture

AlbuMAX II Lipid-Rich BSA100 gPowderChromatographical (IgG content ≤1.0%)11021037
Bovine Serum Albumin - US (7)

Cell culture

AlbuMAX II Lipid-Rich BSA1 kgPowderChromatographical (IgG content ≤1.0%)11021045
Bovine Serum Albumin - US (8)

Tracer studies
and immunoassays

Bovine Serum Albumin Polyclonal Antibody500 µLLiquidIgG fractionA11133
Bovine Serum Albumin - US (9)

Tracer studies

DNP-BSA (Albumin from Bovine Serum (BSA), 2,4-Dinitrophenylated)5 mgLyophilized powderA23018
Bovine Serum Albumin - US (10)

Tracer studies

Albumin from Bovine Serum (BSA), FITC conjugate5 mgLyophilized powderA23015
Bovine Serum Albumin - US (11)

Tracer studies

Albumin from Bovine Serum (BSA), Alexa Fluor 488 conjugate5 mgLyophilized powderA13100
Bovine Serum Albumin - US (12)

Tracer studies

Albumin from Bovine Serum (BSA), Tetramethylrhodamine conjugate5 mgLyophilized powderA23016
Bovine Serum Albumin - US (13)

Tracer studies

Albumin from Bovine Serum (BSA), Alexa Fluor 555 conjugate5 mgLyophilized powderA34786
Bovine Serum Albumin - US (14)

Tracer studies

Albumin from Bovine Serum (BSA), Texas Red conjugate5 mgLyophilized powderA23017
Bovine Serum Albumin - US (15)

Tracer studies

Albumin from Bovine Serum (BSA), Alexa Fluor 594 conjugate5 mgLyophilized powderA13101
Bovine Serum Albumin - US (16)

Tracer studies

Albumin from Bovine Serum (BSA), Alexa Fluor 647 conjugate5 mgLyophilized powderA34785
Bovine Serum Albumin - US (17)

Tracer studies

Albumin from Bovine Serum (BSA), Alexa Fluor 680 conjugate5 mgLyophilized powderA34787
Bovine Serum Albumin - US (18)

Restriction enzyme
cloning, chromatin biology

Bovine Serum Albumin150 mgLiquid15561020

Bovine Serum Albumin - US (19)GMP manufacturing

Gibco cell culture products are manufactured in facilities compliant with current good manufacturing practices (GMP) and adhere to a robust quality management system, ensuring the consistency, reliability, and high quality you can rely on.

Learn more about GMP manufacturing

Bovine Serum Albumin - US (20)Sustainable solutions

We are committed to delivering products that serve the research needs of our customers, while striving to develop them in a way that minimizes our use of natural resources and our impact on the environment.

Learn more about sustainable solutions

Resources


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Find the right Gibco media formulation for DMEM, DMEM/F-12, MEM, and RPMI-1640 media.

Related products

  • Cell culture media
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  • Cell culture FBS
  • Cell culture reagents
  • Transfection products
  • Recombinant proteins

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Bovine Serum Albumin - US (2025)
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