Schneider's Drosophila medium was formulated for the growth of S2 cells from the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaser. It can be used to culture other insect cell lines. This medium has been shown in the use of transient or stable transfection and large scale protein production in S2 cells. It includes malic acid, fumaric acid, alpha-ketoglutaric acid, succinic acid, and sugar trehelose which is required for S2 cell culture.