how will i be able to culture tumor cells? - (Jul/15/2009 )

hi, im an undergraduate student

im planning to culture tumor cells for my research study. Can somebody tell me how?
pls.

thank you.

risshin on Jul 15 2009, 04:41 PM said:

As a first step, you should go to your library. Ask the librarian to find a basic cell culture textbook for you.
A good example would be:

Basic Cell Culture (Practical Approach Series)
publisher: Oxford University Press, USA, published: 2002-03-21
ISBN: 0199638535

Always look at some literature before starting a project (or doing your homework).

thanx.

but we do not have any textbook about it.
I had searched it in the library and in the internet.
I found something in the internet but it is so confusing.

If you haven't done it before, you should find someone who has and ask them to show you. It is the best way to learn, as there are lots of little tricks that will make your life easier if you can learn from an experienced person. I can recommend R.I. Freshney "Culture of Animal Cells" as a good starter book too. Your supervisor or university library should be able to buy it.

How long is the research project? If it is less than 2-4 months, get a new topic!

If there is no-one experienced around, I would seriously think about changing topics to something that doesn't involve cell culture... there are a lot of things that can go wrong and/or influence your results if you don't know what you are doing. First of all make sure your supervisor has all the necessary equipment: You will need a minimum of cell culture hood (class II), CO₂ incubator(s), centrifuge capable of holding 50 ml tubes, an ultracold freezer and liquid nitrogen storage dewar, pipettors, appropriate medium, trypsin or similar product, ethanol in a spray bottle, cells, culture flasks or plates (Corning or Falcon make good ones), cryotubes, and stripettes, off the top of my head... there will be other things too. Last but not least: PROTOCOLS (try here for some basic ones)

Contamination and the detection of it is the biggest hurdle to overcome... videos on sterile technique should be available on Youtube. You also need to be aware of confluency, how to count cells, what the various morphologies mean - whether you cells are dividing happily, senescent, apoptotic, necrotic, infected etc.