I'm culturing primary cells from equine bone marrow. The possible contaminant is in the upper side of the flask, not in the bottom where are the cells and the media. What it can be and how can I get rid of it without having to discard my flasks? Thanks!
And how is the humidity in the incubator? Sorry, this may sound strange, but the first photo looks like dry media.
And two others remind me the "pictures" I've seen while working with glass Petri dishes, that were not properly washed. If you work with glass flacks, this may be not a contamination at all. If the media remains clear for few days, than problem was not connected to contaminants.
To say, once I saw fungi on the upper side, in the plastic flack.After that, nothing can suprise me.
My adivice can look silly, but the most simple thing you can try: make a long cotton swab, moisten with 70% ethanol (only moisten!), and carefully wipe all upper side. After that, quickly wash the cells with 10X antibiotic you use, wash again with PBS, and that add comlete media. And, sorry for saying obvious things, wash the incubator shelves and check the humidity.
Thanks Nadia for your suggestions I will try with the cotton swab!. Incubator and shelves are washed, and rh humidity is at 95 %, wich value do you reccomend?
Have you identified the contaminant and its sensitivity to antibiotics ?
Agree with Nadilia's initial comment. It looks like dried medium - salt crystals. The second one looks like a small plastic chip. My dishes resemble these very often.
Sorry, I saw the question too late...Shame for me, recently I'm a rare guest on RG.
When we checked the humidity in our incubator, it was 80%. We never had troubles with condensate on the dishes, neither with media.
How is you work now? Are the cultures ok?
Have you sold this problem and what is the source of contamination? We have the same problem in our lab..
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