Blog

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 …

Updated on Dec 10, 2024 Share

Isolating Cell Cultures From a Medium The process of culturing cells involves the introduction of a host population to a growth medium, allowing the population to reproduce quickly in a nutrient-rich environment. After enough cells have spawned to satisfy the requirements of the intended experiment, those same cells need to be removed from the cell culture medium. The cells are intertwined within the substance in which they multiplied and need …

Updated on Dec 9, 2024 Share

Contamination in Cell Cultures Medical research is an ever-evolving field that continues to contribute to the advancement of human health. A key component of this type of research is the process of cell culturing, which involves the isolation and expansion of a cell population. The cell culture process begins with the extraction of a target sample. Once the desired cells have been acquired, they must be purified to minimize contamination. …

Updated on Jan 3, 2025 By Dominique Badea, PhD Share

T Cells are a critical component of the immune system. They play a pivotal role in the body’s defense against infections, cancer, and a variety of other diseases. To harness the full potential of these immune warriors, scientists have worked hard on perfecting the art of T cell culturing. Research and development of new immunotherapies requires robust techniques to purify and culture T cells. This article serves as a primer …

Updated on Dec 9, 2024 Share

T Cells and COVID-19 The body is naturally equipped with a variety of T lymphocytes that work together to fend off harmful pathogens. The human immune system routinely battles mild diseases with recognizable antigens. By attacking the source of a virus or bacteria, damage to healthy cells can be minimized. The T cell immune response to COVID-19 is different because it’s caused by an RNA virus (SARS-CoV-2). RNA viruses insert …

Updated on Dec 9, 2024 Share

RNA-Sequencing Medical advancements have provided researchers with strategies that change the way in which we understand biology. Scientists are now capable of studying coded protein patterns at a genomic level. RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) is the process of detecting and analyzing the messenger RNA (mRNA) of a cell type. The range of mRNA molecules present in an organism is also known as the transcriptome. Identifying a biological transcriptome can give a better …

Updated on Nov 20, 2024 Share

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy is a modern cancer treatment used to combat notoriously hard-to-treat solid tumors. Like other adoptive cell therapies, TIL harnesses the body’s immune system to combat malignancies by using T cells, a type of white blood cell integral to immune response. Except in TIL therapy, these T cells are directly extracted from tumors. Having survived the tumor microenvironment, these lymphocytes are already primed to recognize and attack …

Updated on Jan 17, 2025 By Jason Ellis, PhD Share

Researchers and clinicians constantly adapt medical research and cancer treatment to overcome new challenges. When more traditional methods fail to fend off certain malignancies, patients can now turn to adoptive cell therapy as a new treatment option. Adoptive cell therapy involves the combination of human T cells with scientific enhancements to treat diseases the body isn’t adequately equipped to handle on its own. Introducing Next-Gen Cell Separation With Akadeum’s Microbubbles: …

Updated on Dec 10, 2024 Share

Immunotherapy Immunology is the study of the immune system and what it can do, immunotherapy is the study of how to do things the immune system can’t do. In immunotherapy, researchers observe and manipulate T cells in the body in an effort to make up for humans’ natural deficiencies. There are multiple methods of immunotherapy — each for different purposes. While some strategies merely extract T cells for a population …