Mycoplasma, bacterial, fungal and virial contamination within a cell line causes havoc in laboratories due to the adverse effect these microorganisms have on cell lines. Quality is the core of all of ECACC’s business and operational activities. The HPA Porton Down site as a whole runs to the internationally recognised standard BS EN ISO 9001:2000, which includes all of ECACC activities. In addition ECACC has its own dedicated quality control group who conducts a range of microbial contamination testing as part of the quality control of its own cell banking procedures. These tests are also offered as services to external customers. ECACC is subjected to stringent internal auditing in addition to being regularly audited by external clients. Resources
ECACC conducts its entire microbial testing within a dedicated laboratory segregated from the cell cultivation and cell banking processes. Our scientists are experts in all aspects of microbial testing and this enables ECACC to respond to customer queries. Service Offered
The range of services ECACC can offer includes: - Detection of Mycoplasma
Mycoplasma contamination can profoundly affect the properties and function of a cell line, and the contamination can devastate a cell culture facility due to its ability to spread rapidly through all cell cultures. Three mycoplasma detection methods are routinely employed at ECACC, each having particular strengths and weaknesses. Reliance on a single detection method for anything other than screening purposes is not advisable, and if a cell line has not been tested for some time, ECACC recommends testing by all three testing methods.
- Bacteria and Fungi Testing
Bacteria and fungi are detected using classical isolation methods. This test is also offered to 'FDA points to consider' 1993 guidleines.
- BVDV (Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus) Testing
As most animal cells are now grown with bovine serum supplements, cell lines are tested for the presence of BVDV. Our process utilises reverse transcription (RT) PCR with primers designed to detect a wide range of pestiviruses, optimised specifically for the detection of BVDV.
- Screen for Adventitious Viruses (In Vitro)
The test cell line is co-cultured with 3-5 susceptible indicator cell lines for 4 weeks. The indicator cell lines are then examined for cytopathic effects and tested by haemadsorption. Test cell lines can also be examined using electon microscopy.
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