About Us

Expression Systems LLC is dedicated to supplying and servicing the commercial Insect Cell Culture markets with innovative media formulations, complimentary products and contract services. Our mission is to maximize insect cell expression capabilities, with a target yield that is greater than 1 gram per liter.

Expression Systems Formula, ESF 921, is the company's flagship product. ESF 921 medium is widely recognized as the industry's standard for applications such as high throughput gene expression for drug discovery. ESF 921 medium works well for a multitude of insect cell lines; whether you are using Lepidopteran cells such as Spodoptera frugiperda's Sf9 or Sf21, Trichoplusia ni (e.g. Tni PRO™), Estima acrea (Ea4) or Dipteran cells (e.g., Drosophila S2). Each batch of ESF 921 is quality tested to insure consistency from lot to lot.

Unique to Expression Systems is the Animal Free Formulation for insect cell culture. This complete medium is 100% free of any animal components or animal-derived components. It is compatible with a variety of insect cell lines. ESF AF is the logical choice for manufacturing under cGMP/FDA regulatory compliance. It is the most technologically advanced formulation available and has an active Drug Master File on record with US FDA.

Other products developed by ES to enhance insect culture expression include: transfection medium for better cellular DNA uptake, production boost additives for increasing expression, custom formulation for Selenomethionine protein labeling and baculovirus titer kits.

ES offers a variety of contract services that includes; high throughput gene expression program (from transfection to scale up optimization) and a high throughput baculovirus titering service.

ES has an active development program for designing new DNA vectors. ES has an ongoing collaboration to develop a new type of bioreactor for scale up manufacturing.

For many years Expression Systems has been successfully contracting to produce a variety of proteins for our clientele. This experience, combined with our animal free medium and our unique Tni PRO™ cell line provides Expression Systems with a very competitive platform to base a future GMP contract manufacturing business.

Scientific Advisory Board:

Loy Volkman, Ph.D. Professor UC Berkeley
http://mcb.berkeley.edu/faculty/BMB/volkmanl.html

Don Jarvis, Ph.D. Professor University of Wyoming
http://uwacadweb.uwyo.edu/uwmolecbio/Faculty/D_Jarvis.asp

Biography

Dr. Loy Volkman, Professor
Division of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
University of California, Berkeley

Loy Volkman earned her B.A. in zoology (1967) at the University of California, Riverside, and her M.S. (1971) and Ph.D. (1973) degrees in Microbiology at the University of Washington, Seattle. She focused on retroviruses for her dissertation work but was captivated by baculovirus pathogenesis during her post-doctoral years in the laboratory of Dr. Max Summers at University of Texas, Austin. She worked with Dr. Summers for 3 years before moving into an independent research position at Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, NM. In 1979, the University of California, Berkeley awarded her a Chancellor's Distinguished Lectureship, and in 1980, an Assistant Professorship. A 27- year career followed during which Dr. Volkman's research program focused on baculovirus pathogenesis. She found that baculoviruses usurp control of both the tubulin and actin cytoskeletons during baculovirus infection. Microtubules are dismantled, leading to rounding of cells, and actin is recruited to the nucleus where it mediates infectious viral progeny production. The Volkman lab identified the viral genes involved in these activities, and in 2006, they joined Dr. Matthew Welch and colleagues in demonstrating that nuclear actin in baculovirus-infected cells is regulated by the interaction of the viral protein Ac p78/83 and the cellular Arp2/3 complex (Science 314,464-468, 06). Dr. Volkman retired from Cal in January, 2007, but she continues to participate in baculovirus research as a guest member of the Welch lab at U.C., Berkeley, and as an advisory board member for Expression Systems in Woodland, CA.

Dr. Donald L. Jarvis, Professor
Department of Molecular Biology
University of Wyoming

Don Jarvis earned his B.S. (1978) and M.S. (1980) degrees in Microbiology at Idaho State University and a Ph.D. (1986) in Virology at Baylor College of Medicine. He undertook brief postdoctoral training in molecular cloning at Baylor, and then moved on to Texas A&M University in 1987 for further postdoctoral studies on glycoprotein biosynthesis and processing in the baculovirus system under the direction of Dr. Max Summers. In 1989, Dr. Jarvis moved into an independent position at Texas A&M, where he remained until the end of 1997. In 1998, Dr. Jarvis moved to the Department of Molecular Biology at the University of Wyoming. He was promoted to Professor in 2000 and his research program continues to focus on glycoprotein biosynthesis in the baculovirus-insect cell system. Dr. Jarvis also teaches courses in medical virology, protein biochemistry, and graduate seminars in Molecular Biology.