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Published on Aug 22, 2023 Share

What Is Dead Cell Removal? Dead cell removal involves removing dead cells and debris from a culture or cell population to enhance purity and viability. Researchers and clinicians utilize this process in various research and clinical applications, including cell culturing, sorting, manufacturing, and cellular assays like flow cytometry. How Is Dead Cell Removal Used Across Applications? Cell culture experiments involve studying cells in a natural and controlled state. Over time, …

Updated on Aug 22, 2023 Share

Dead cells naturally contaminate cell samples or cultures throughout their lifespan; this contamination can occur at any time. While common, dead cells and debris negatively affect cell populations before and after separation, isolation, and application. Removing dead cells and debris before further processing plays a critical role in culture maintenance and adherence to good laboratory practices. Cell Culturing and Dead Cells Researchers grow cell cultures in the laboratory that can …

Updated on Dec 9, 2024 By Brandon H. McNaughton, PhD Share

What Is a Customized Leukopak? A leukopak is a blood product enriched with white blood cells obtained through a unique extraction technique, leukapheresis. Leukapheresis, a specialized application of apheresis, targets the collection of leukocytes and returns all non-leukocyte material to the donor’s bloodstream.  Leukopaks can be customized to fit the requirements of their intended application, both clinically and for research and development. Before leukopak collection, donors are strategically selected for …

Updated on Sep 4, 2024 Share

Cell washing is a crucial technique used in both clinical and research settings for various biomedical applications. When trying to produce a pure, isolated population of cells via leukopak processing, cell washing is typically the first step. It removes unwanted cells and other contaminating material, such as proteins and platelets, leaving the apheresis product ready for high-precision cell separation. This enables the isolation of a pure population of cells, which …

Updated on Aug 21, 2023 Share

Mouse B Cell Enrichment: How to Culture Isolated Mouse B Cells The primary function of B cells is antibody production. They are called B cells because they mature in the bone marrow, while T cells mature in the thymus. Receptors on the surface of a B cell bind to foreign antigens and develop antibodies that suppress that specific pathogen. Understanding more about how B cells work can provide insight into …

Updated on Aug 4, 2023 Share

Researchers and scientists around the world have long theorized that the inherent directional systems in various animals (including migratory animals like birds, butterflies, whales, and possibly even humans) could have a magnetic component – that internal navigational impulses are related in some way to Earth’s magnetic field. While this has been a long-standing theory, the underlying cellular mechanisms that support the ability of an organism to detect magnetic field to …

Updated on Aug 21, 2023 Share

COVID-19 Reinfection In January 2020, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed the first domestic case of COVID-19, an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Soon after, COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, spreading at exponential rates and drastically altering the world as we knew it. After more than a year of research and experiments, we’ve begun to learn more about the mechanisms of this coronavirus variant, and how …

Updated on Aug 4, 2023 Share

  Saliva-based tests can simplify, accelerate, and increase the availability of COVID-19 testing – and potentially lead to better patient outcomes.   The COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause illness across the world, but there is hope on the horizon as improved testing, treatments, and vaccines make their way to the global population. With the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants and mutations, however, it is more important than ever that testing …

Updated on Dec 9, 2024 Share

What is an mRNA Vaccine? Messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) is genetic material that acts as instructions for cells to develop proteins. An mRNA vaccine harnesses the productive capabilities of mRNA to build up immunities by subjecting the body to proteins that will be recognizable in the future if naturally exposed to a virus. How do mRNA Vaccines Work? While most vaccines contain a weakened or inactive infectious pathogen, mRNA vaccines …

Updated on Nov 29, 2023 Share

What Is Cell Clumping? When working with single-suspension cell cultures in a growth medium, it is not uncommon to experience cell loss in a sample. As cells are ruptured, they release DNA and debris that cause cells to aggregate into large clumps that make it difficult for them to expand. Cell clumping can both lead to and be caused by cell apoptosis, or cell death.  As more cells die and …