Recombinant Proteins

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Key Product Lines

Biomedical research, diagnostic and therapeutic development, and countless other scientific efforts heavily depend on recombinant proteins.

Since launching the first commercial cytokine in 1985, R&D Systems has provided customers with high-quality recombinant protein products. Today, we offer more than 5,000 recombinant protein products for a comprehensive selection of targets, earning thousands of research publication citations and making us one of the most trusted recombinant protein suppliers in the industry. Our recombinant protein product line is especially strong for cytokines, growth factors, and immune checkpoint proteins used in cell culture, drug discovery and development, and cell therapy biomanufacturing.

R&D Systems ensures the research impact of our protein product line with stringent quality control specifications that enable industry-leading bioactivity and lot-to-lot consistency. Simultaneously, our team works to deliver continuous innovation that supports the life science community in their pursuit of new research fields.

Explore Our Complete Protein Catalog

Core Recombinant Protein Product Lines

R&D Systems Recombinant Protein catalog includes a broad range of products across various applications, with a special emphasis on cytokines, growth factors, immune checkpoint proteins, and enzymes, including those with useful tags and labels.

Cytokines & Growth Factors

To closely control cell differentiation, activation, and signaling, researchers need a reliable supply of cytokines and growth factors. R&D Systems provides a large portfolio of cytokines and growth factors, including those suited to stem and immune cell culture.
Cytokines & Growth Factors  Proteins for Stem Cell Culture  Proteins for Immune Cell Culture

GMP Proteins

The development of cell therapies offers new possibilities for treating difficult diseases. Though cell therapy research is rapidly evolving, central challenges associated with infrastructure and cost remain as hurdles to successful development programs and commercial activities.

To support these efforts and simplify cell therapy manufacturing logistics, R&D Systems offers a portfolio of GMP cytokines and growth factors. Produced at scale, our GMP proteins provide cell therapy manufacturers with a reliable and fully traceable supply.
GMP Cytokines & Growth Factors

Animal-Free RUO Proteins

The life science and biotechnology communities have increasingly sought to work with reagents from animal-free production systems to better define culture conditions, avoid variability, and improve translation to the clinic.

To support this transition, R&D Systems has a collection of Animal-Free RUO proteins. Our Animal-Free RUO proteins are produced using the same manufacturing systems as our Animal-Free GMP proteins. This helps to deliver a seamless transition from basic and preclinical research to clinical manufacturing.
Animal-Free RUO Proteins

Immune Checkpoint Proteins

Immune checkpoint inhibitors, which target immunosuppressive proteins on cancer cell surfaces, have become a vital therapeutic class in oncology. To support immune checkpoint receptor research, R&D Systems sells purified checkpoint proteins for:

  • Defining immunotherapy targets
  • Developing antibodies
  • Screening drugs
  • Designing quality control assays

Purified Proteins for Immunotherapy Research and Clinical Manufacturing

Avi-Tag and Amine-Labeled Biotinylated Proteins

Biotinylated proteins support various experimental applications, including protein-protein interaction studies, drug discovery screening, and beyond. For researchers in need of biotinylated proteins, R&D Systems offers biotin-labeled proteins by Avi-Tag, amine, and sugar ligation strategies.
Biotinylated Proteins

Fluorescent-Labeled Recombinant Proteins

For detecting and imaging purposes, R&D Systems also sells a collection of recombinant proteins labeled with either Alexa Fluor® 488 or 647 dyes. In particular, our labeled proteins focus on those useful for immuno-oncology applications, including immune checkpoint ligands and proteins used for detecting CAR-T or CAR-NK cells.
Fluorescent-Labeled Proteins

Enzymes

Harnessing enzymatic activity has become second nature in biotechnology. R&D Systems’ carefully curated collection of enzymes serves a variety of functions, including research and bioprocessing applications. Browse enzymes for immunotherapy, metabolic, and ubiquitin-related studies, glycosidases/glycosyltransferases, glycan labeling, nucleic acid modifying, and lysosomal enzymes, proteases, and other enzymes.
Enzymes

Continued Recombinant Protein Science Innovation

The needs of the scientific community constantly evolve to address newer and more complex research questions. That means researchers need their recombinant protein suppliers to evolve alongside them.

R&D Systems maintains a steady commitment to advancing protein science. To serve the changing needs of researchers, we continue to apply the latest developments in protein science and seek out ways to enhance our protein portfolio.

Redefining Industry Standards with NextGen Proteins

NextGen Proteins are the result of modernized manufacturing methods that safeguard access, dependability, and stability of supply. This growing list of best-in-class proteins keeps your research progress on the cutting edge.
NextGen Proteins

AI-Modified Proteins

The rapid rise of AI technologies offers profound benefits in protein science. R&D Systems has experienced those benefits firsthand, having harnessed AI tools to design proteins in combination with protein library evolution and rational design. R&D Systems’ AI-modified proteins can overcome cell culture challenges, offer improved bioactivity, and better suit clinical applications.
AI-Modified Proteins

Bulk Supply & Custom Recombinant Protein Services

As a trusted partner and premier recombinant protein supplier, researchers and companies can also rely on R&D Systems for large and custom orders. Our biomanufacturing capacity is sufficient to supply large quantities of proteins at discounted prices, scaling with your research needs and minimizing the need for bridging studies. With our custom services, you can also access protein science experts for support with everything from cloning to purification, including protein process engineering and modification.
Custom Protein Services  Request Bulk Protein

Maximizing Bioactivity

During product development, R&D Systems’ optimization process involves analyzing protein sequence, protein expression system, and formulation to ensure that we provide proteins with excellent bioactivity and performance.

Leveraging decades of protein research, R&D Systems has developed proprietary methods to improve protein folding accuracy during recombinant protein expression, helping to maximize biological activity. With higher activities, our customers can use less protein to achieve the same effects, which often results in a lower price per activity unit than our competitors.

During production, R&D Systems considers several factors to optimize protein bioactivity, including:

  • Processing
  • Multiple host expression systems
  • Secretion
  • Tertiary structure
  • Post-translational modifications (i.e glycosylation)

To evaluate our proteins, R&D Systems uses biological activity assays described in the scientific literature. We use over 900 different in-house assays to measure recombinant protein bioactivity and meet strict quality control (QC) parameters before releasing them to the market.

Researchers can also access R&D Systems’ bioassays for their unique proteins of interest through our Bioactivity Testing Services. Through this service, researchers can reduce their development burden of custom protein projects by harnessing R&D Systems' bioassays and expertise.

Consistent Performance Through Scalable Manufacturing and Stringent QC

R&D Systems continues to make investments in the scalability and quality of our protein production. Through these advancements, we have built unmatched, stringent recombinant protein manufacturing and quality control systems. Importantly, our commitment to quality extends beyond traditional RUO products. R&D Systems also operates equivalent production processes for GMP and Animal-Free RUO recombinant protein products for translational research and cell therapy, supporting a seamless transition from preclinical research to clinical manufacturing.

R&D Systems is so confident in our promise to provide superior recombinant proteins that we back our products with a 100% guarantee.

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Lot-to-Lot Equivalency

Through carefully developed and heavily optimized manufacturing processes, R&D Systems’ products offer reproducible protein lot equivalency, minimizing variability to avoid experimental failure and costly repeats. Our QC team analyzes every lot for production consistency, including assessments of:

  • Bioactivity
  • Microbial contamination
  • Amino acid sequence
  • Protein purity

Microbial QC: Endotoxin and Bioburden Testing

For each new protein production lot, we measure endotoxin levels using the Limulus Amoebocyte Lysate (LAL) assay. Our endotoxin specification is set at <0.1 EU/µg, a stringent industry-leading limit for recombinant proteins. In addition, we perform bioburden testing using direct plating and broth dilution according to guidelines from the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) to rule out microbial contamination.

Protein Sequence Accuracy

To verify protein sequences, R&D Systems performs N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis for each recombinant protein to ensure that the protein produced matches the expected sequence.

Formulation & Long-Term Stability

We formulate recombinant proteins to provide long-term stability and solubility using a variety of analytical evaluations and sell them as lyophilized powders from a sterile filtered solution (available without or with a carrier protein). Whereas recombinant enzymes are sold in ready-to-use solutions.

Additional Resources

How Are Recombinant Proteins Made?

Protein production is a cornerstone of molecular biology and biochemical research. Recombinant proteins are produced through genetic engineering using a DNA sequence that contains instructions for synthesizing the target protein of interest. This DNA expression vector is delivered to a prokaryotic or eukaryotic host cell line, such as Escherichia coli (E. coli) or mammalian cells (e.g., CHO cells), using either transfection or transduction methods. There, the cell’s internal machinery is used for mRNA generation and protein synthesis. The cells are cultured on a large scale to produce proteins at high yields and in a cost-effective manner. After using protein purification methods, such as chromatography, proteins are evaluated using a variety of analytical methods, including SDS-PAGE, Western blots, ELISAs, bioassays, and others.

Download Recombinant Proteins Guide

Recombinant Proteins Guide