Cell Culture

Cell Culture is a very important part of growing cells. In this process, the goal is to take a plate of confluent cells, remove them from the plate, and separate them into different plates to allow them to grow more. To do this process you need PBS (a type of saline) Trypsin (a digestive protein) and Media (the nutrients for the cells). Everything goes under the fume hood in order to keep everything sterile and bacteria free. The cells are washed with PBS and then trypsin is added to remove the proteins that stick the cells to the plate. The cells are kept in the incubator while the trypsin is used because the enzyme works best at body temperature. After that, the media is added and all the cells are spun in the centrifuge. A centrifuge is a large machine that spins at high speeds. The purpose for it is to bring everything to the bottom, in this case, cells. Once it is done spinning you are left with a cell pellet in the bottom of the tube. All the old liquid is aspirated out then new media is added. The cells are resuspended in the media and then a fraction of them are replated. This allows the cells to remain healthy and to prevent them from competing for the nutrients they need.