Quality Control is What Makes the Comprehensive Collection of Cell Lines from JCRB Among the Highest Regarded and Most Widely Distributed in the World
About JCRB cell bank
In addition to focus on preclinical ADME in vitro testing services and complementary products, XenoTech offers to our clients in the academic and industry sectors access to premier cell lines through the Japanese Collection of Research Bioresources (JCRB), a Japanese nonprofit organization founded in 1984. The lines offered span numerous species and can be selected for many different demographic, karyotype, or cell surface markers.
The collection represents over a thousand cell lines with unique qualities including cancer, mutant, genetically-modified, and immortal cells. One featured cell line is HuH7, an immortalized hepatocyte-derived carcinoma cell line widely used in cancer biology studies and developing treatments for Hepatitis C. Because of the high quality and vast selection of the bank, cell lines have been used in cutting-edge research investigating other areas including ovarian cancer and liver cancer. HEC-59, which is a human tumor cell from endometrioid adenocarcinoma G2, has been used by many labs to address oncological research needs not met by other banks.
You can use the Cell Search database on the JCRB website to search for appropriate cell lines by animal, tissue, morphology, cell type, or classification. North American clients can work directly with XenoTech representatives to streamline the order process, making it easy for clients to order their JCRB cell lines without having to worry about shipping and customs.
In addition to variety, quality assurance is a keystone to JCRB, so strict quality control standards for cell lines are maintained in storage and distribution, qualified by testing for microbial, virus, or cross-cultural contamination.
Cell bank features
- Over 1,600 human and animal cell lines
- Human culture cells derived from various disease patients
- Immortalized human mesenchymal stem cell lines
- More than 4,600 JCRB cell lines distributed all over the world per year
Quality control
Quality control is paramount in the storage and distribution of cell lines, for both reproducibility of results and safety assurance. All cell lines distributed from the JCRB Cell Bank have been confirmed as contaminant-free and authenticated through the quality control measures listed below. The data obtained from the quality control testing for each cell line is used to continually update the JCRB website.
- Bacteria and fungi testing
- Mycoplasma screening
- Cell line authentication
- Viral examination
- Species identification
- Chromosome analysis
1. Bacteria and fungi testing
To assess contamination of bacteria and fungi in cell lines, cells are disseminated to three kinds of media optimized for bacteria and fungi.
1 day after finger touch
3 days after sneeze
Media : Blood agar with 5% rabbit blood
Nutrient broth with 2% yeast extract (NB medium) Thioglycolate broth (TGC medium)
Cultivation temperature: 35°C
Cultivation period: 1 week – 2 months (depending on medium)
2. Mycoplasma screening
Mycoplasma contamination is a serious problem that can lead to erroneous data and cause unnecessary repetition of experiments. Our routine procedure to assess mycoplasma contamination consists of the following three methods:
