Testing Strategies for Mammalian Cell Banks

by Michelle Quertinmont, James Moldenhauer, and Dayue Chen
Volume 8, Issue 1 (Spring 2009)

Contamination by adventitious agents (bacteria, fungi, mycoplasma, and viruses) represents potential safety risks for biologics produced in mammalian cells. Bacterial and fungal contaminations are usually easy to detect in culture medium due to changes in pH and visual indicators such as color and opacity. Mycoplasma contamination has been detected in 15–35% of cell lines deposited in some cell culture collection. This is because mycoplasma contaminations often cause little changes that can be readily detected by visual inspection. However, bacterial, fungal, and mycoplasma contamination can be more effectively controlled than viral contamination by careful screening of initial parental cell banks, proper environmental monitoring, along with ongoing testing…

Citation:
Quertinmont M, Moldenhauer J, Chen D. Testing Strategies for Mammalian Cell Banks. BioProcess J, 2009; 8(1): 18-22. http://dx.doi.org/10.12665/J81.Quertinmont