Day 1 my mentor had me attempt cell culture, any mistake can ruin your cells. Needless to say I was a shaky mess! 10 days later, I can do it solo with my lab book closed!
Cell culture is also known as splitting cells, it is the process in which cells are grown under controlled conditions, usually outside their natural environment. After the cells of interest have been isolated they can later be maintained under carefully controlled conditions.
My mentor wants to develop genetic circuits in cell plasmids to increase protein production for medical use. The cells she has me working on will take on the genetic circuit she’s designing and fingers crossed they work!
Hope everyone has a great week, it’s already week 3 guys!
Crystal,
Biology rules and so do cells! I noticed your comment regarding protein production being a project focus. What proteins are you all interested in exactly? Also, are you keeping your cells healthy by using Fetal bovine serum? Great pic by the way! I enjoyed reading your insights.
Hey Shamial! We’re trying to get monoclonal proteins (they aid in antibody production) and I’m keeping them in Hyclone media.
Crystal
Whoop Whoop! Huge victories. Cell culturing sounds tedious, how often do you culture your cells? Are you guys using Protein or RNA molecules to encode the genetic circuit? I can’t wait to visit during the tours. Awesome pics by the way.
Hey Michelle!
I culture my cells about every 2 days, it really depends how much they have grown (my babies are human embryonic kidney cells) And we’re using tetracycline trans activator (tTA) proteins and were experimenting on the other, we usually do two.
Congrats on learning sterile technique to grow mammalian cells!
The technique requires patience and being careful about details. For example, researchers generally wear gloves. But in a cell culture hood, the gloved hands need to be “sterilized” with 70%ethanol immediately before entering the sterile cell culture hood. Soo many details …
Hi Crystal,
This sounds awesome! I still have tripidations with working with cells and bacteria. Mapping genetic codes sounds mind blowing.
Cheers,
Robert
Hello Crystal,
I’m wondering what medical uses your researcher has in mind? I’m just curious. I’m glad that you have become very confident. I bet its been a great learning experience you’ll be taking back to your students.
My mentor has antibiotic production in mind with the proteins produced, and thank you! This process has been very rewarding, my kiddos will not believe the things I did over the summer. lol