A Pinch of This; 10% of That: The Cookbook to Happy Cells

Piece by Lily Shatford, Research Associate

Cell culture and baking have more in common than you might think. Both involve carefully measuring ingredients, following the recipe, controlling the environment and even checking the expiry.  Coming from someone who has been trying to master sourdough for 6 months, sometimes I look at my flat loaf and think “what could’ve possibly happened?”

Recipe for Happy Cells

Ingredients:

• Healthy Cells

• Appropriate Growth Medium

• The Right Amount of Serum

• A Suitable Flask

• Correct Incubation Temperature

• A Lot of Patience

Instructions:

1.        Prepare the cells.

2.        Add them to a suitable flask.

3.        Incubate at the appropriate temperature.

4.        Check every 1-2 days for growth.

5.        Results may vary, depending on the cell line.

Confluency (how much space do the cells occupy):

10-20% - A tiny ball of dough in a large bowl.

50% - The dough has spread to half the bowl.

70-80% - Looking good. Time to start thinking about splitting your dough. 

100% - You should’ve split your dough already.

100%+ - You ignored the timer and now your dough is burnt.

Disaster Recovery: When the Recipe Goes Wrong

• My cells aren’t growing!

  • Did you forget an ingredient?

• Everything died!

  • Are you sure the oven was on?

• Contamination!

  • Did someone use your kitchen without telling you?

Tips from the Baker:

Everyone starts out following the recipe exactly. Eventually you learn that ‘bake for 20 minutes’ can be different depending on your oven or the pan you use. The protocol or recipe will tell you what shouldhappen, but experience is what will make healthy and happy cells recognizable.

Things Nobody Tells You about Cell Culture:

·      Your cells WILL look perfect until the exact day they are needed, then they will misbehave.

·      “I’ll just go check them quickly” is NEVER quick.

·      The cells know when you’re busy and they will become confluent at the most inconvenient time.

·      You will develop the habit to spray everything at least 40 times with Isopropyl Alcohol ‘just in case’ you missed a spot.

Final Notes: 

At first glance, baking and cell culture look like two different worlds. One relies on producing mouth-watering bread and the other gives experimental data. Both rely on consistency, attention to detail and learning to recognize when something just doesn’t look right. Sometimes, even when you are following the recipe perfectly, you still end up with something unexpected (like a burnt loaf). The difference is that in cell culture, you can’t eat the results to see if they are okay.