Development of an animal-derived component-free medium for Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) cells using response surface methodology.

OBJECTIVES: To develop an animal-derived component-free medium for Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) growth and green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression. RESULTS: OSF9-ADCFM contained optimum concentrations of CDLC, YE and ST at 0.5% (v/v), 11.0 g/L, and 3.0 g/L, respectively. A mean viable cell concentration of 1.71 ± 0.14 × 105 cells/mL was obtained from 5 passages (P1-P5). The use of both peptones after 10 kDa ultrafiltration had a significant effect on Sf9 cell growth. Grace's insect medium with 10% FBS gave higher un-infected cell number than SF-900II and OSF9-ADCFM for 4.29 and 5.38 times, respectively. The average cell number of un-infected cells and GFP-fluorescent cells of SF-900II were higher than OSF9-ADCFM 1.25 and 7 times, respectively. CONCLUSION: In-house OSF9-ADCFM could support growth and GFP expression in Sf9 less than commercial SF-900II. However, it could lower the production cost at least 50% comparing to commercial SF-900II. The development of in- house OSF9-ADCFM would be continued to increase both cell numbers and protein expression in the next step.

SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence in Unvaccinated Adults in Thailand in November 2021.

Between the first case of COVID-19 in January 2020 and the end of 2021, Thailand experienced four waves of the epidemic. The third and fourth waves were caused by the alpha and delta strains from April 2021 to November 2021. Serosurveillance studies provide snapshots of the true scale of the outbreak, including the asymptomatic infections that could not be fully captured by a hospital-based case detection system. We aimed to investigate the distribution of SARs-CoV-2 seroprevalence in unvaccinated adults after the delta wave outbreak. From November to December 2021, we conducted a cross-sectional survey study in 12 public health areas (PHAs) across Thailand. A total of 26,717 blood samples were collected and tested for SARs-CoV-2 antibodies (anti-S IgG) using a qualitative immunoassay. The results showed that seropositive prevalence in this cohort was 1.4% (95% CI: 1.24 to 1.52). The lowest prevalence was in the northern region (PHA 1) and in central Thailand (PHA 3) at 0.4% (95% CI: 0.15 to 0.95), while the highest was in the southern region of Thailand (PHA 12) at 5.8% (95% CI: 4.48 to 7.29). This seropositive prevalence was strikingly lower than the reports from other countries. Our serosurveillance results suggest that the vaccination of unvaccinated groups should be accelerated, especially in the public health areas with the lowest seroprevalence.