# Animal cell culture without using any antibiotic requires more care fullness.
But if recurrent contamination is happening and there is no deal with the sterility of media, reagents and materials, pointing towards handling error probably inside the BSC, it is compulsory to focus on proper handling practices. Then please suggest some critical handling steps that may be reason for contamination.
# Along with the above condition there is another situation. Beside the cell culture lab there is a microbiology lab. There are common persons working in the two labs (free personnel movement). In addition the two labs share a common cold room, refrigerator and some times a common water bath.
# So how should i consider this situation with recurrent contamination of cell culture without any antibiotic ( as the experiment doesn't allow any antibiotic) under the above circumstances ?
# Doesn't the situation additionally contributes towards the contamination burden or
# Should i just only focus on proper handling?
# What should i consider as the root cause of contamination in case i find that the contaminants in cell culture is what that is culturing inside the microbiology lab? Theoretically the contamination could be avoided by proper management or handling procedure, couldn't it ?
# From contaminated sample by doing only gram staining is it posible to confirm a specific species?
# Is there any document or article available regarding the above aspects, please share with me.
I would focus on proper handling first before accusing the microbiology lab, unless it is working with microorganisms producing a lot of airborne spores. Don't forget that you are yourself a major source of potential contamination owing to your skin and mouth microbiome. Hence, all manipulations with open containers should be carried out with gloves in a well-kept laminar flow hood fitted with adequate and regulary renewed filters. Disinfecting the incubators is also good practice.
Agree with Pierre, there has to be some extremely poor handling of the microbes form the microbiology lab for the contamination to affect your culturing. For reference our small cell culture room contains our -80c freezer full of bacteria, we also have an incubator for bacteria infections in the same room and often share the same benchtop light microscope to check our cell cultures along with our infected cell cultures (we are a host-pathogen lab).
Clean everything with ethanol, your hood, your pipettes, your incubator. Literally clean everything possible. Use new filters in your autopipette. Clean your media water baths routinely. Use sterile water for your incubator water bath. And most importantly, check your procedures when working in the BSC. Everything clean!
The most common source of contamination is the flora present on laboratory workers, which can come from hair, breath, or skin. The second significant source is the laboratory environment itself, when a laboratory is not cleaned regularly. Biological contamination is most often caused by people not wearing the appropriate protective equipment (e.g., gloves, lab coats, goggles) or using improper techniques (e.g., not wiping down the cell culture hood, blocking laminar flow, and using the same pipettes between plates of different cell types). Methods designed for the disinfection/decontamination of culture waste, work surfaces and equipment must not only minimize contamination risk, but also safe for lab personnel. Always wear appropriate lab wears such as gloves and eye protection when using concentrated forms of disinfectants.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Biological Science
- Microbiology