Can you find the error?
OK, an easy one to start with.
9 February 2022
Science and superstition don’t typically mix, but you find a surprising amount of overlap in these ideas when scientists work on cell and tissue culture. Many scientists fall back on obsessive (over the top?) infection control measures, all in an attempt to stave off the inevitable death of their cells.
In part 2 of our series on cell culture – (you can find part 1 here), we will attempt to highlight common mistakes in Tissue Culture that increase the risk of contamination.
You will see a series of cell culture scenarios, including:
Pipetting liquid media using motorised pipette controllers;
Resuspending pelleted cells in liquid nutrient media within a TC hood;
Adding fresh nutrient media onto a flask of cells;
Working with cells seeded onto 24-well plates
Each of these experiments is flawed for different reasons, and you will have a chance to pinpoint the source of experimental error(s). Being able to pre-visualise the mistake before you make it is an important part of learning these techniques, and we have filmed everything from multiple angles for you to have a very close look.
The key principles of Tissue Culture to keep in mind as you try to find the error(s):
Work far inside the hood to maximise the zone of asepsis
Disinfect and/or sterilise everything that goes into the hood
Maintain a clean and minimal work space within the hood, only bringing in reagents that you need for that step of the experiment
Be gentle when adding media or reagents onto cell monolayers
The videos are linked below - stay tuned for Part 3.
Jack.
