Hypothesis-free, data-driven polymeric sensor arrays for a comprehensive quality assessment of cell-culture supplements

The advancement of the cell-culture industry toward a circular bioeconomy is driving a growing demand for simple and cost-effective analytical technologies to support the quality control of culture media. Here, we present a hypothesis-free, data-driven sensing strategy that employs an array of synthetic polymer probes to generate fluorescence-response patterns that are able to reflect the comprehensive compositional differences in cell-culture supplements. This approach, based on charged block-copolymers conjugated with aggregation-induced-emission (AIE) fluorophores, can successfully distinguish 16 different animal sera through rapid and simple fluorescence measurements, and can reveal phylogenetic differences among species. Furthermore, the system enables the detection of differences in serum origin, lot, and storage conditions, as well as quality variations in serum-free supplements for stem-cell culture and naturally derived yeast extracts, including subtle changes undetectable by conventional cell-culture assays. As it does not require prior assumptions about which specific components are important, this data-driven strategy can be flexibly adapted to a diverse array of supplement types and quality control needs, offering a robust and reproducible quality assessment with significant potential for standardization that ensures that cell-based products have been reliably manufactured.