What we do

CellBank Australia functions as a repository for cells grown in culture. Such repositories exist around the world and act as secure storage sites for biological material, which may include cells, tissue or genetic material. This material is kept primarily for research use, although some repositories also accept and are permitted to handle material that is used in clinical trials and treatment.

Several of these repositories focus, as we do, on the safe storage and handling of cell lines grown in culture. Cell lines originally come from humans, or from a variety of other species, and are able to grow continuously outside the body under special culture conditions. Many cell lines have been extensively characterised and are valuable models that allow us to study parts of the body that otherwise would be difficult to examine.

Why does Australia need a cell banking facility?

There is a particular need for repositories to have expertise in cell culture because cell lines are prone to contamination. An undetected contaminant affecting a single cell line can potentially nullify all research that is carried out using those cells and can extend to multiple laboratories and research efforts before it is noticed.

In addition to their role in storage, cell repositories have the expertise to detect culture contaminants and play an important role in validating existing cell lines and in educating the research community about this as an issue. Cell banks determine and archive the unique genetic profile of human cell lines through STR analysis. This unique genetic profile can then be used to determine if future generations of that cell line become cross contaminated with other faster growing cell lines.

Why purchase cell lines from CellBank Australia?

Cell lines sourced from overseas repositories require costly international dry ice shipping. Charges easily exceed AUD$1000 per shipment. CellBank Australia charges customers for domestic shipping only.

With over 750 cell lines currently stocked in our facility in Sydney, most cell lines can be dispatched within 1-2 days of receipt of the required acceptance documents. Cell lines not in stock typically take 2 weeks to import. Greatly improved access to validated cell lines puts Australian researchers on par with their northern hemisphere counterparts and enables more competitive research outcomes.

All cell lines have been validated Mycoplasma negative, free of bacteria and fungi and their identity confirmed. Researchers accessing non-validated cell lines risk potentially invalidating their findings through the use of contaminated cell lines and possible perpetuating the spread of contaminated cell lines to other researchers.

CellBank Australia is a not-for-profit organisation that was established to help Australian researchers improve their research outcomes (and research validity), through the provision of quality cell culture and testing services and improving access to validated cell lines.

CellBank Australia offers a live cell culture option for difficult to resuscitate cell lines.