Cell Culture and Lines

Tissue Culture Facility

The CSC is a fully operational tissue culture facility capable of handling a large number of cell lines at any one point in time. The CSC currently has the capacity for 3600 frozen vials of cells with the ability to triple that capacity if necessary. To aid in cell counting for maintenance and plating a Beckman Coulter Vi-Cell XR is used which is capable of calculating cell concentration as well as cell viability. There are two biosafety cabinets in the CSC, one class A2 and one class B2. Four Class 100 incubators also provide ample storage for cell growth needs. A refrigerated centrifuge and an inverted microscope with fluorescence complete the setup in the tissue culture facility.

Cell Lines

The CSC is aiming to become a center for cancer cell line models within the Chicago area. The CSC currently holds 25 cancer cell lines with an emphasis on breast cancer lines. Ultimately, the CSC will hold representative lines for all known cancer types. The CSC is also collecting lines from other disease areas such as ophthalmology and lung disease.