The Cell Culture team at Pirbright prepare both primary and secondary cells, available for scientists at the Institute to use. 

The department maintains over 100 different animal and human secondary cell lines, thereby providing a valuable research tool to all groups within Pirbright and their collaborators.

Services offered 

Primary cultures

  • Bovine Thyroid Cells (BTYs, not routinely prepared) 
  • Chicken Kidney Cells (CKCs)
  • Chicken Embryo Fibroblasts (CEFs)

Secondary cell lines

Continuous cultures of most requested cell lines (e.g., BHK-21, Vero and MDBKs) are maintained. We also have a large cell bank of frozen stocks.

Mycoplasma testing

We routinely perform mycoplasma testing of our secondary cultures by PCR. This service is also available to all internal scientists for the testing of cultures grown in their labs. 

Expansion of new procured cell lines 

We can defrost and expand any cell lines purchased by our scientists from reputable sources such as ECACC and ATCC. We can freeze down both master and working bank vials.

Team

Srijana Rai, Cell Culture Manager

Contact

For further information, contact cellculture@pirbright.ac.uk.