Schneider 2 cells

S2 cells were derived from a primary culture of late stage (20–24 hours old) Drosophila melanogaster embryos by Dr. Imogene Schneider,[1] likely from a macrophage-like lineage.

S2 cells can be grown at room temperature both as a semi-adherent monolayer or in suspension, and they can be grown in the absence of serum.

The S2 cells have been shown to grow up to 5.1×107 cells/ml in serum free medium[3] and above 107 cells/ml in basal media such as that used in Schneider's experiments.

[4] ExpreS2ion Biotechnologies have shown a cell concentration of up 7.0x107 cell/ml.

Additionally, the cells can be easily transiently transfected with several plasmids at once to study protein interactions.