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What we do |
 CellBank Australia functions as a repository for cells grown in culture. A variety of repositories exist worldwide that act as secure storage sites for biological material, including cells, tissue or DNA. This material is kept primarily for research use, although some repositories also accept and are accredited 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 are derived from tissue samples but, unlike the majority of cells within that tissue, are able to grow continuously outside the body under the appropriate conditions. Many cell lines have been extensively characterised and are valuable models that allow us to study parts of the body that otherwise could not be accessed.
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 educating the research community about how to avoid or detect contamination. |
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