Route 02 · Mammalian expression
CHO and HEK, for proteins that need a mammalian cell to be themselves.
Glycosylation, complex disulfide bonding, secretion. Transient transfection gives you research quantities in weeks instead of the months a stable line would cost you.
31working days
From sequence to purified protein
100 mL–5 L
Transient culture scale
50–300mg / L
Typical IgG yield, transient
Transient
No stable line required
Is this the right route?
Slower and dearer than E. coli — and the only honest option for a whole class of molecules.
Choose mammalian for
- Full-length monoclonal antibodies and Fc fusions
- Secreted proteins with native glycosylation
- Receptor ectodomains and multi-domain constructs
- Proteins with complex disulfide bonding
- Cytokines and growth factors that need mammalian folding
- Anything that failed to fold in E. coli
Not sure which route?
Send the sequence and what you plan to do with the protein. We will recommend a system before you commit to anything — the recommendation is free and occasionally it is "use E. coli, it will cost you half as much".
| Capability | E. coli | CHO |
|---|---|---|
| Native N-glycosylation | —no | ●yes |
| Full-length IgG | —no | ●yes |
| Nanobodies, scFv, designed miniproteins | ●yes | —no |
| Cheapest route to a first answer | ●yes | —no |
Host cells
CHO by default, HEK when it helps
CHO
Our default mammalian host. Human-compatible glycosylation, robust in suspension, and the system most downstream partners expect to see. Best choice if the protein may later be made at larger scale.
HEK293
Higher transient yields for some difficult targets and a slightly different glycan profile. Useful when you need material quickly and the glycosylation pattern is not the endpoint.
Specification
What a transient run includes
Base price covers everything below. Anything else is quoted separately and itemised, so you can decline it.
| Hosts | CHO (default) · HEK293 |
|---|---|
| Mode | Transient transfection, serum-free suspension culture |
| Scale | 100 mL to 5 L |
| Gene | Codon optimisation, synthesis and cloning into a mammalian vector |
| Signal peptide | Designed for secretion unless you specify otherwise |
| Purification | Protein A for IgG and Fc fusions · IMAC for His-tagged targets · size-exclusion polishing |
| Typical yield | 50–300 mg per litre for an IgG · 10–150 mg per litre for other secreted proteins |
| QC supplied | SDS-PAGE reduced and non-reduced, concentration by A280, size-exclusion profile |
| Format | Sterile-filtered, flash-frozen aliquots in PBS or a buffer you specify |
| Add-ons | BLI affinity measurement · Western blot |
| Grade | Research use only. Not GMP, not for clinical or diagnostic use. |
Pricing
Transient mammalian runs
from €3,200
100 mL transient CHO
from €5,900
1 L transient CHO
Antibody projects are quoted on the antibodies page, since they usually bundle Protein A capture and a non-reduced purity check.
Questions
About mammalian expression
Transient or stable?
Transient. For research quantities it is faster and far cheaper, and it avoids months of clone selection you do not need in order to answer a research question. If you reach the point of needing a stable line, that is a different project and a different supplier conversation — we will tell you when you are there.
Why 31 working days, when E. coli takes 21?
Mammalian work adds about 10 working days to the bacterial route. The cells grow more slowly, the culture has to be expanded before transfection, expression runs for several days after it, and purification of a secreted product starts from a much larger, dilute volume. The extra time is biology, not queueing.
What purity should I expect?
For an antibody captured on Protein A, high — typically above 95% monomer after polishing. For a His-tagged secreted protein it depends on the target and the medium; we assess it by SDS-PAGE and size-exclusion and report what we actually see rather than a catalogue figure.
What glycosylation will I get?
That depends on the host. CHO gives human-compatible glycosylation and is the profile most downstream partners expect to see; HEK293 differs somewhat. We tell you which host produced your batch and what that normally implies. If the precise glycoform is the endpoint of your experiment rather than a property of it, say so at the quote stage so we can agree what data you need.
What about endotoxin?
Endotoxin is a bacterial cell-wall product, so it is a question for our E. coli route rather than this one. There is no bacterial host in a transient CHO or HEK run, and endotoxin is not part of the standard QC panel on mammalian material. If your assay has a threshold it must meet and you want the measurement made anyway, say so at the quote stage and we will price it in.
Can you scale beyond a few litres?
Transient CHO runs up to 5 L here. Beyond that you are into process development rather than research supply, and you are better served by a dedicated CDMO. We will say so rather than stretch.
Tell us what needs a mammalian cell.
A rough description and a deadline are enough to get a fixed price and a delivery date. We normally reply within one working day.