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Designed for mammalian and insect cell culture, superior to traditional shake flasks making shake cabinets a much more efficient space in the lab.

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Optimum Growth® System

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Shake Flasks

Designed for mammalian and insect cell culture, superior to traditional shake flasks making shake cabinets a much more efficient space in the lab.

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Special Flasks

Thomson Optimum Growth® Special Flasks were designed with the unique needs of small- to medium-scale bioprocessing applications

See Special Flasks
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Transfer Caps

Eliminates intermediate vessels for scale up & seed cultures

See Transfer Caps
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Rapid Clear® Cap

Quickly and efficiently clarify cell culture media directly from the Thomson 5L Optimum Growth® shaker flask without the need for centrifugation

See Rapid Clear®

Optimum Growth® Flasks

Scalable from 125mL up to 5L

Thomson Optimum Growth® Flasks (patented) for mammalian and insect cell culture come in multiple sizes of 125mL, 250mL, 500mL, 1.6L, 2.8L and our popular 5L.They are superior to traditional shake flasks due in part to the fact that they support a 50-60% fill volume versus 33% fill volume making your shake cabinet a much more efficient space.

  • Baffles designed for high aeration and low shear to maintain cell viability

  • Same footprint as comparable Fernbach flask but with a 50-60% fill volume

  • Less foaming than disposable Fernbach potentially eliminates additives

  • 0.2μm Vented Cap simultaneously maintains high gas exchange and sterility

  • Transfer cap option connects directly to cell bags or bioreactors with multiple connection options

  • Scalability from 125mL up to 5L lets you mix and match different flask sizes in your shaker greatly improving space efficiency

  • Individually packaged and sterilized for immediate use

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All Sizes Shake At The SAME Optimal Shake Speed

Maximize Shaker Space Efficiency

Thomson Optimum Growth® Flasks in all sizes shaking at an optimal shake speed of 120 rpm on a 1" (2.54cm) throw shake platform.

Note: that virtually every square inch of platform space is utilized

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Space Saving More Volume

Optimum Growth® Flasks give excellent growth with space saving capability.
See Optimum Growth® Accessories
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Fill Volume & Shake Speeds

CHO Stable, & Transient, HEK293 Transient , Hybridoma

Recommended

Recommended fill volume & shake speeds for Optimum Growth® Flasks. To achieve the advertised results with our Optimum Growth® flasks it is recommended to follow these guidelines.

Flask SizeRecommended FillRecommended RPM
1" (2.54cm) | 2" (5.08cm)
125mL63mL150 | 110
250mL150mL150 | 110
500mL250mL150 | 110
1.6L900mL150 | 110
2.8L1.4L150 | 110
5L2.0L120 | 90

Working

Note: Although the following data guidelines will produce acceptable results, the advertised results for Optimum Growth® Flasks are achieved using the recommended fill volume & shake speeds.

Flask SizeWorking VolumeWorking RPM Range
1" (2.54cm) | 2" (5.08cm)
125mL24-75mL120-150 | 90-110
250mL100-150mL120-150 | 90-110
500mL175-250mL120-150 | 90-110
1.6L0.4-1.1L120-150 | 90-110
2.8L0.9-1.6L120-150 | 90-110
5L1.7-3.2L120-150 | 90-110

Insect Cell lines

Recommended

Recommended fill volume & shake speeds for Optimum Growth® Flasks. To achieve the advertised results with our Optimum Growth® flasks it is recommended to follow these guidelines.

Flask SizeRecommended FillRecommended RPM
1" (2.54cm) | 2" (5.08cm)
125mL63mL150 | 110
250mL150mL150 | 110
500mL250mL150 | 110
1.6L900mL150 | 110
2.8L1.4L150 | 110
5L2.0L135 | 95

Working

Note: Although the following data guidelines will produce acceptable results, the advertised results for Optimum Growth® Flasks are achieved using the recommended fill volume & shake speeds.

Flask SizeWorking VolumeWorking RPM Range
1" (2.54cm) | 2" (5.08cm)
125mL24-75mL120-150 | 90-110
250mL100-150mL120-150 | 90-110
500mL175-250mL120-150 | 90-110
1.6L0.4-1.1L120-150 | 90-110
2.8L0.9-1.6L120-150 | 90-110
5L1.7-3.2L120-140 | 90-110

Microbes / E. coli

Working

Note: For Microbes & E. coli cell growth we recommend using our Ultra Yield® Flask system of products. Presented here are the working fill volume & shake speeds.

Flask SizeWorking VolumeWorking RPM Range
1" (2.54cm) | 2" (5.08cm)
125mL63mL250 | 150
250mL125mL250 | 150
500mL250mL250 | 150
1.6L900mL250 | 150
2.8L1.4L250 | 150
5L2.5L250 | 150

Visit More of the Optimum Growth® System

Optimum Growth® Special Flasks
Rapid Clear® Cap
Transfer Caps
Accessories

Traditional vs Optimum Growth® Flasks

Comparison of Two Expressed Membrane Proteins
  • Corning® – 500mL flask, 200mL culture
  • Thomson – 250mL flask, 150mL culture
  • 4mL samples purified over Ni-NTA
  • Protein A – Membrane protein of moderate expression, 34kDa
  • Protein B – Membrane protein of low expression, 45kDa
  • 12μL of elution resolved on a coomassie gel

Conclusion: Thomson Optimum Growth® flasks are equivalent to Corning® standard flasks in terms of expressed protein purity but with a 50-60% fill volume Optimum Growth® flasks generate a far greater total yield/flask.

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214% Yield Increase From Insect Cells

Protein Production/Flask

Data supplied by New York Structural Genomics Research Consortium

Four insect cell line clones cultured in Thomson 5L Optimum Growth® flasks and Corning 3L shake flasks. In the figure below note the consistently higher protein yield with Optimum Growth® flasks over Corning. Each flask has the same footprint but flasks operate with 3x higher fill volume (illustrated in the figure at right).
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Consistent Expression From HEK293 Strains

Thomson 5L flasks consistently maximize production of your best expressers
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4-20% SDS-PAGE Quick Blue Stain Commassie Gel Expected MW of dimer 24.5 kDa Estimated expression level ~10-20 mg/L

Low Expressing Gel

This gel shows equal bands from 5 replicates of a low expressing protein, producing roughly 10 to 20 mg/L.

Gel Key
  1. Benchmark Pre-Stained Protein Ladder
  2. Purified protein, 100 ng control
  3. Purified protein, 200ng control
  4. Untransfected cells, -ve control
  5. +ve control
  6. +ve control
  7. Protein of interest, 5L Combined Flasks #1-5
  8. Protein of interest, 5L Flask #1
  9. Protein of interest, 5L Flask #2
  10. Protein of interest, 5L Flask #3
  11. Protein of interest, 5L Flask #4
  12. Protein of interest, 5L Flask #5
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4-20% SDS-PAGE Quick Blue Stain Commassie Gel Expected MW of dimer 159.4 kDa Estimated expression level ~300 mg/L

High Expressing Gel

This gel shows equal bands from 3 replicates of a high expressing protein, producing approximately 300 mg/L.

Gel Key
  1. Benchmark Pre-Stained Protein Ladder
  2. Purified mAb 100 ng control
  3. Purified mAb 250 ng control
  4. Purified mAb 500 ng control
  5. Purified mAb 1000 ng control
  6. +ve control
  7. Protein of interest, 5L Flask #1
  8. Protein of interest, 5L Flask #2
  9. Protein of interest, 5L Flask #3
  10. Protein of interest, 5L Combined Flasks #1-3

Conclusion

Thomson Optimum Growth® Flasks not only ensure consistent expression from HEK293 strains, they can also increase shaker capacity.

With the same footprint as a typical Corning® 3L flask and a culture volume of up to 3L, the Optimum Growth® 5L Flask may increase production 200%, if not more, in the same space (this is construct dependent).

Most constructs express at higher levels in the Optimum Growth® 5L flasks. This makes one Optimum Growth® 5L equivalent to, if not greater than, two 3L flasks.

Thomson Instrument Company is not affiliated with Corning® Life Sciences or their products

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Flask Clamp Compatibility

Refer to the chart below to find the appropriate flask clamp compatible with your shaker.

Flask SizeEppendorf®INFORS HT®Kuhner®Fisher Scientific®VWR®
125mLM1190-900112202SM31012511-676-01357019-676
250mLM1190-900212203SM31025011-676-01457019-678
500mLM1190-900312204SM31050011-676-01557019-682
1.6Ln/a12205SM311600n/an/a
2.8LACE-2000S12251SM312800T11-676-01857019-686
5LACE-5000S12209SM313000F23602857019-696
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Nationwide Technical Support

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Thomson employs a nationwide team of expert technical support staff ready to tackle any questions you may have regarding our products.

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Optimum Growth® Flask Part Numbers

  • Optimum Growth® 125mL Flask
    sterile
    PTFE 0.2µm Vent Cap for Increased Aeration | Sterile
    Scale Consistently Across All Sizes
    pn931110|50/case
    click for more details
  • Optimum Growth® 250mL Flask
    sterile
    PTFE 0.2µm Vent Cap for Increased Aeration | Sterile
    Scale Consistently Across All Sizes
    pn931111|50/case
    click for more details
  • Optimum Growth® 500mL Flask
    sterile
    PTFE 0.2µm Vent Cap for Increased Aeration | Sterile
    Scale Consistently Across All Sizes
    pn931112|25/case
    click for more details
  • Optimum Growth® 1.6L Flask
    sterile
    PTFE 0.2µm Vent Cap for Increased Aeration | Sterile
    Scale Consistently Across All Sizes | Transfer Caps Available
    pn931113|12/case
    click for more details
  • Optimum Growth® 2.8L Flask
    sterile
    PTFE 0.2µm Vent Cap for Increased Aeration | Sterile
    Scale Consistently Across All Sizes | Transfer Caps Available
    pn931114|6/case
    click for more details
  • Optimum Growth® 5L Flask
    sterile
    PTFE 0.2µm Vent Cap for Increased Aeration | Sterile
    Scale Consistently Across All Sizes | Transfer Caps Available
    pn931116|4/case
    click for more details

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