Guest Lecture Report

Bio essay and cell culture by Roosha Roy

Reetika Pandey(18BCB0121) | Cell Bio and Biochemistry | 8 November, 2019
Basic Terms Discussed

1. Tech Transfer- It is the process of transferring (disseminating) technology from the person
or organization that owns or holds it to another person or organization.
2. Bio Assay- A bioassay is an analytical method to determine concentration or potency of a
substance by its effect on living cells or tissues. Bioassays are quantitative biological assays
used to estimate the potency of agents by observing their effects on living animals (in vivo) or
tissue/cell culture systems (in vitro).
3. Biotechnology (commonly abbreviated as biotech) is the broad area of biology involving
living systems and organisms to develop or make products, or "any technological application
that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives. The content was mainly focused
on cell culture that has nowadays helped the cancer patients. The description was as follows:
4. Cell culture: Cell culture is the process by which cells are grown under controlled
conditions, generally outside their natural environment. After the cells of interest have been
isolated from living tissue, they can subsequently be maintained under carefully controlled
conditions.

− Adherent Cell Culture and Suspension cell culture:

Suspension Cell
Adherent Cell Culture Culture

Appropriate for most Appropriate for cells

cell types, including adapted to suspension
primary cultures culture and a few other
cell lines that are
nonadhesive (e.g.,
hematopoietic)

Requires periodic Easier to passage, but

passaging, but allows requires daily cell counts
easy visual inspection and viability
under inverted determination to follow
microscope growth patterns; culture
can be diluted to
stimulate growth

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 Cells are dissociated Does not require
enzymatically (e.g., enzymatic or
Gibco™ TrypLE™ mechanical dissociation
Express, trypsin) or
mechanically

Growth is limited by Growth is limited by

surface area, which may concentration of cells in
limit product yields the medium, which
allows easy scale-up

Requires tissue-culture Can be maintained in

treated vessel culture vessels that are
not tissue-culture
treated, but requires
agitation (i.e., shaking or
stirring) for adequate
gas exchange

Used for cytology, Used for bulk protein

harvesting products production, batch
continuously, and many harvesting, and many
research applications research applications

QC Operations while preparing a cell culture

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 1. Reagents and Materials:

source as the of vbovine viral diarrhea virus .Porcine trypsin is a potential source of
mycoplasma. Scientists carry out a variety of tests to check the quality of mycoplasma.
2. Cell Line Integrity and Identification:

major source of contamination. So to reduce the risk we use the cell cultures from ECACC
culture collection.
3. Avoidance of microbial contamination:

to the naked eye and detected by a sudden increase in turbidity and colour change of the
culture medium as the result of a change in pH. Some cell lines contain endogenous viruses
and secrete virus particles or express viral antigens on their surface, e.g. Epstein-Barr Virus
(EBV) transformed lines. These cell lines are not considered contaminated. However, bovine
serum is a potential source of bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) contamination and use of
infected serum will lead to contamination of cell lines with the virus.

Cancer Cell Culture:

Here, we aim to develop an in vitro functional assay of a patient’s living cancer cells that could
complement these approaches. We present methods for developing cell cultures from tumor
biopsies and identify the types of samples and culture conditions associated with higher
efficiency of model establishment. Toward the application of patient-derived cell cultures for
personalized care, we established an immunofluorescence-based functional assay that
quantifies cancer cell responses to targeted therapy in mixed cell cultures.

Applications of cell culture

Cell culture is one of the major tools used in cellular and molecular biology, providing
excellent model systems for studying the normal physiology and biochemistry of cells (e.g.,
metabolic studies, aging), the effects of drugs and toxic compounds on the cells and
mutagenesis and carcinogenesis. It is also used in drug screening and development and large
scale manufacturing of biological compounds (e.g., vaccines, therapeutic proteins). The major
advantage of using cell culture for any of these applications is the consistency and
reproducibility of results that can be obtained from using a batch of clonal cells.

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I. Model System:
Cell culture are used as model system to study basic cell biology and biochemistry, to study
the interaction between cell and disease causing agents like bacteria, virus, to study the effect
of drugs, to study the process of aging and also it is used to study triggers for ageing.
II. Cancer Research
The basic difference between normal cell and cancer cell can be studied using animal cell
culture technique, as both cells can be cultured in laboratory. Normal cells can be converted
into cancer cells by using radiation, chemicals and viruses. Thus, the mechanism and cause of
cancer can be studied. Cell culture can be used to determine the effective drugs for selectively
destroy only cancer cells.

III. Virology
Animal cell cultures are used to replicate the viruses instead of animals for the production of
vaccine. Cell culture can also be used to detect and isolate viruses, and also to study growth
and development cycle of viruses. It is also used to study the mode of infection.

IV. Toxicity Testing:

Animal cell culture is used to study the effects of new drugs, cosmetics and chemicals on
survival and growth of a number of types of cells. Especially liver and kidney cells. Cultured
animal cells are also used to determine the maximum permissible dosage of new drugs.

V. Vaccine Production:

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Cultured animal cells are used in the production of viruses and these viruses are used to
produce vaccines. For example vaccines for deadly diseases like polio, rabies, chicken pox,
measles and hepatitis B are produced using animal cell culture.

VI. Genetically Engineered Protein:

Animal cell cultures are used to produce commercially important genetically engineered
proteins such as monoclonal antibodies, insulin, hormones, and much more.

VII. Replacement Tissue or Organ:

Animal cell culture can be used as replacement tissue or organs. For example artificial skin can
be produced using this technique to treat patients with burns and ulcers. However research is
going on artificial organ culture such as liver, kidney and pancreas. Organ culture techniques
and research are being conducted on both embryonic and adult stem cell culture. These cells
have the capacity to differentiate into many different types of cells and organs. It is belived
that by learning to control the development and differentiation of these cells may be used to
treat variety of medical conditions.

VIII. Genetic Counseling:

Fetal cell culture extracted from pregnant women can be used to study or examine the
abnormalities of chromosomes, genes using karyotyping, and these findings can be used in
early detection of fetal disorders.

IX. Genetic Engineering:

Cultured animal cells can be used to introduce new genetic material like DNA or RNA into the
cell. These can be used to study the expression of new genes and its effect on the health of the
cell. Insect cells are used to produce commercially important proteins by infecting them with
genetically altered baculoviruses.

X. Gene Therapy:
Cultured animal cells can be genetically altered and can be used in gene therapy technique.
First cells are removed from the patient lacking a functional gene or missing a functional gene.
These genes are replaced by functional genes and altered cells are culture and grown in
laboratory condition. Then these altered cells are introduced into the patient. Another method
is by using viral vector, functional gene is inserted into the genome of viral vector and then
they are allowed to infect the patient, in the hope that the missing gene will be expressed with
the help of the viral vector.

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XI. Drug Screening and Development:
Animal cell cultures are used to study the cytotoxicity of new drug. This is also used to find out
the effective and safe dosage of new drugs. Now these tests are being conducted in 384 and
1536 well plates. Cell-based assay plays an important role in pharmaceutical industry.

Food Biotechnology: Food biotechnology is the use of technology to modify the genes of our
food sources. Our food sources are animals, plants, and microorganisms. With food
biotechnology, we create new species of animals and plants, for example, specifically animals
and plants that we eat.
Healthcare biotechnology refers to a medicinal or diagnostic product or a vaccine that
consists of, or has been produced in, living organisms and may be manufactured via
recombinant technology (recombinant DNA is a form of DNA that does not exist naturally.

Agricultural biotechnology, also known as agritech, is an area of science involving the use of
scientific tools and techniques, including genetic engineering, molecular markers, molecular
diagnostics, vaccines, and tissue culture, to modify living organisms: plants, animals, and
microorganisms.

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