Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology, Branch Bioanalytics and Bioprocesses IZI-BB
Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology, Branch Bioanalytics and Bioprocesses IZI-BB

Cell Culture

Tour through the cell culture at the Fraunhofer IZI-BB

In our 200 m2 cell culture unit, 10 fully equipped workstations including a separate quarantine area are available for the cultivation of animal and human cells under S1 conditions. Our laboratory manager Anika Andersson competently teaches, supervises and supports the cell culture work. She ensures a smooth workflow and maintains our steadily growing in-house cell bank with more than 50 cell lines. Thanks to a broad spectrum of analyses and the corresponding experience, we can offer a variety of in vitro test methods. In our cell culture we are happy to give you the space to carry out your own work or we can take over your work on behalf of you.

Range of Services

© Fraunhofer IZI-BB

Cell Cultivation

  • Expansion of your animal cell lines and primary cells (suspension cells, adherent cells)
  • Preparation of cell samples (live or processed)
  • Cryopreservation of cell and tissue samples
  • Use of our cell culture infrastructure for trained personnel (sterile benches, CO2 incubators, centrifuges, provision of sterile supplies and consumables, standard media and additives in R&D scale)  
  • Testing of cell culture associated equipment

© Fraunhofer IZI-BB

Cell Culture Assays

  • Mycoplasma test (PCR) of your culture/s
  • Cytotoxicity assays (based on DIN ISO EN 10993)
  • Cell proliferation assays 
  • Establishment and optimization of your assay formats
  • Cell staining techniques, e.g. immunohistological staining
  • Microscopic examination of your samples
    • Fluorescence microscopy, optionally with high content screening in combination with Deep Learning
    • Live Cell Imaging (Time Lapse)

Cell Culture Training

Theory

  • Introduction to cell culture, basics, medium and medium supplements (FCS), buffer systems and other aspects of cell culture

Practice

  • All steps in the cultivation of animal tumor cells (suspension cells, adherent cells)
  • Freezing and thawing of cell lines (cryopreservation)
  • Implementation of cell staining techniques

Equipment

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    • Sterile workbenches
    • CO2 incubators, CO2/O2 incubators and shaking incubators with CO2
    • Centrifuges with cooling
    • Cryopreservation in nitrogen gas phase

    • Leica microscopes for brightfield and phase contrast microscopy (50x to 400x magnification)
    • Fully automated fluorescence microscope IX83 (Olympus) with incubation chamber for time-lapse imaging (CellSens) and high-content screening incl. AI (ScanR)
    • Confocal laser scanning microscope (Zeiss LSM 980 with NLO laser) with incubation chamber, including multiphoton excitation, fluorescence/phosphorescence lifetimes and correlations using lifetime imaging (FLIM/PLIM) and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS)
    • FACS (Sony SH800S) for the analysis and sorting of particles/cells

    • Automated cell counting and GFP transfection efficiency determination (LUNA-FL™ Automated Fluorescence Cell Counter)
    • Multimode Microplate Reader: microplate reader for absorbance, fluorescence, time-resolved fluorescence, luminescence
    • Bioanalyzer CEDEX Bio HT (e.g. for: Ammonia, Glucose, Glutamine, IgG human, Lactate, Magnesium, Total-Protein, further analytes are available)

    • Swivel table
    • Rotator
    • Ultrasonic bath
    • pH meter
    • Fine balance
    • Ice machine
    • Ultrapure water system
    • Thermo shaker for small reaction vessels