Fatty acid-free BSA is used where the presence of lipids and fatty acids may cause problems, such as hormone and cholesterol assays. Fatty acid free albumin also provides maximum binding sites for the addition of specific fatty acids for cell culture applications. Additional applications include protease-sensitive immunoassays such as RIA, EIA, fluorescent and chemiluminescent assays; as a protein standard, diluent; as a protein, conjugate or enzyme stabiliser; for hybridisation, nucleic acid-based assays; in fatty acid sensitive cell culture systems such as CHO, Vero and MDCK cells.

BSA is a high purity Fraction V protein derived from the plasma of USDA-inspected healthy animals from abattoirs located in the United States. The material is initially fractionated by a modified Cohn procedure – a proprietary heat-shock method – and is further isolated from other plasma proteins and lipids by extensive membrane dialysis and filtration. Product is supplied with a TSE Certificate of Suitability.