CellBank Australia releases guide to cell line deposit and cell banking

To coincide with Nature’s latest move to improve transparency, CellBank Australia has released a short guide to cell line deposit and the cell banking process.

Download: Bank for the Future: Depositing Cell Lines

To improve transparency in publications, researchers should report where cell lines were sourced and provide a catalogue number if sourced from a cell bank.

If a cell line was established as part of your research, you can deposit it at a cell bank. Cell banks take on the job of distributing cell lines to the research community.

You also need to plan ahead to ensure your cell line remains a good research model.

Cell lines change over time. Changes can occur because of contamination or drift with increased handling. Standardised procedures can be used to "bank" large numbers of vials at early passage and incorporate testing into the banking process. Cell banking procedures were developed in the 1960s, when the Cell Culture Collection Committee verified and banked important cell line models using standardised procedures.

Procedures were further developed by cell banks during the 1980s and continue to be refined by researchers in biotech and elsewhere.

The cell banking process used by CellBank Australia is summarised in our guide.

Any laboratory can use the same basic principles to ensure that their cell lines are tested and stored at low passage for future use.