Contamination of cultured cells - (Nov/01/2007 )
Hi everyone, I am new to here I am an undergrad student doing a research project
So today I went back to lab and found out my cell line was contaminated again. And I dont really know how to handle this situation. Coz this is already the second time in a roll ofcontamination, it happened as well last week. What do you guys usually do once your cell line was contaminated?Also, how to minimize the chance of contamination?
Thanks
throw it away
if its your initial stock of frozen cells - cry
to minimise - make sure people dont send you contaminated cells and when they arrive freeze some down as soon as possible
dom
Throw the cells immediately.
Rhombus has given tips in different posts on how to minimize chance of contamination. Search in the forum and you should be able to find it.
To put it simply, it is almost always about technique!!! You have to be SO careful with your aseptic technique (particularly as a beginner, it will become more second nature the longer you have been doing it).
I agree with Scolix, search this forum for posts by Rhombus on the topic, he is the resident expert on all things tissue culture 
well he has been doing it for 30 years
i know it sounds hellish but throwing away is your only choice - i tried everything i could think of but the treatments are all bacteriostatic not 'cidal so you're relying on diluting the infection away and its way too stuborn to let you. i just ended up making myself angrier and wasting a lot of time.
rhombus is the guy to talk to - he knows his stuff and wont sugar coat it.
better luck next time
dom
Unless it is precious lymphocytes contaminated by yeast (then I could give you a solution) throw your cells.
Yep, start with throwing away. I agree that it almost always is technique. Next time start fresh with everything, including new media (we had that happen once and all cells in the lab at that time got contaminated, so it was pretty easy to find out what it was)
Other than that, search the forum, it's a great place to find answers.
hallo travis,
some points which should always be noticed:
disinfect your incubator from time to time,
use fresh media, +sterile filtered supplements if neede
use aseptical pipettes
when culture-flasks are used, take care of the lid and bottleneck!!!
try not to touch bottleneck of cellculture flask and media flask with your finger or even pipettes
try to make some mycoplasm contamination tests when you used to work with cells for longer
hope this will help ("I'll keep my fingers crossed for you")
hi all,
I am new in here. also, I am new in lab life. I have contamination problem in my lab too, our incubator had yeast contamination before and my advisor explained that they did not disinfect after contamination. Now, I have to disinfect our cell culture lab, especially our incubator. But I do not know the disinfection protocols for incubator. how can I get this disinfection protocol ? I need your advise.. please help!!!
zefza
I am new in here. also, I am new in lab life. I have contamination problem in my lab too, our incubator had yeast contamination before and my advisor explained that they did not disinfect after contamination. Now, I have to disinfect our cell culture lab, especially our incubator. But I do not know the disinfection protocols for incubator. how can I get this disinfection protocol ? I need your advise.. please help!!!
zefza
It depends on the incubator. Check your equipment manual for any instructions and if its not there post the make and model. It shouldn't be too difficult but it can be very time consuming and depending on the air/vent system of the incubator it may take several sweeps to get it clean.