I had to marry into this knowledge, but ...
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Sara O'Rourke" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: April 4, 2008 3:20:08 PM PDT
To: William Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] Off-topic: fungus contamination of SF9 cells
[I] didn't send the picture but it sounds like fungus. Take a break
from tissue culture to clean up the lab and let spores settle, and
buy in a new stock of SF9 from ATCC. If you have contaminated
stocks get rid of them. Incubators are notorious, completely drying
them out, leaving them dry and hot for a week may help.
It could be a contamination in a cell stock or media stock
solution, make new aliquots from a fresh stock in a clean area. It
could be entering by chance.
Restrict access to the culture facility, fungal spores get carried
in on clothes shoes, hair etc. Clean the lab, and let it settle
before using it. Wear a clean lab coat, hair tied back and gloves,
use overshoes if necessary. Keep the windows to the lab closed and
make sure no work is done after ceiling tiles have been disturbed.
If you are using glass flaks you can bake them for 2hrs at 200
centigrade.
Adding anti-fugal agent is usually ineffective, bleach the infected
culture and leave it to sit 30 minutes before removing the fungus
for disposal.
Sara
Begin forwarded message:
From: Filipp Frank <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: April 4, 2008 12:49:00 PM PDT
To: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK
Subject: [ccp4bb] Off-topic: fungus contamination of SF9 cells
Reply-To: Filipp Frank <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Dear all,
sorry for this off topic question. I am using baculovirus/insect
cell expression and I have had persisting problems with
contamination that seems to be some kind of fungus. I have a
picture attached showing the filamentous structure of it. This
contamination has persisted for a few months now and always seems
to occur when we go to large 2.8 L flasks (however, there was also
one instant where this was not the case). We have autoclaved all
flasks for 90 minutes each and still we get contamination.
Does anybody have experience with this kind of contamination? And
what would you suggest for us to do?
We will (again) disinfect our incubator and the hood. Also we are
thinking about using an antimycotic/antifungal drug to get rid of
this problem.
Thanks a lot for any suggestion!
Filipp
