How Starting With the Right Cells Can Take Your Research Further
Scientist
on
April 5, 2023
Tech Snapshot® captures today’s cutting-edge tools and technologies that will help drive drug discovery tomorrow. This installment is brought to you by STEMCELL Technologies, who specialize in developing cell culture media, cell separation systems, instruments and other reagents for use in life sciences research across the basic to translational research continuum.
Your choice of a primary cell supplier can have a big impact on the success of your research. Securing a dependable source of quality human primary cells that consistently meet your requirements can reduce experimental uncertainty and increase confidence in your results.
In 2022, STEMCELL Technologies was recognized by Scientist.com as a top-performing supplier for providing excellent customer service to biopharma clients through the Scientist.com marketplace. STEMCELL Technologies offers a variety of high-quality, ethically sourced human primary cells* to meet your research needs. Your unique requirements are accommodated with personalized service and customizable products, including products that meet specific isolation and anticoagulant requirements, custom cell isolation kits, cell culture media, and more. Additionally, with the option to reserve entire lots to prescreen cells for your applications, STEMCELL Technologies helps you get the cells you need.
Why Use STEMCELL’s Human Primary Cells?
In addition to providing hundreds of ready-made, “off-the-shelf” primary cell products from peripheral blood, cord blood, and bone marrow, STEMCELL can support your complex research projects with products customized to your specific requirements. Examples of these include:
- Rare or difficult-to-isolate hematopoietic cell types (normal and diseased, including cells from patients with autoimmune diseases, diabetes, asthma, cancer, etc.)
- Cells that meet specific donor recruitment criteria
- Collections obtained using alternative anticoagulant
- Donor-matched collections
Primary cells from STEMCELL are available in different sizes and formats to meet your research requirements. These can be separated into three main types: high-yield primary cells, isolated CD34+ and immune cell types, and diseased-state cell types.
High-Yield Primary Cells
High-yield cell products include leukopaks and mononuclear cells (MNCs). The main advantage of high-yield primary cells lies in being able to obtain a variety of cell types from a single donor. High-yield primary cells are ready to use directly in downstream applications or can be isolated into specific cell types depending on the researcher’s needs.
Leukopaks are derived from the peripheral blood of donors and are a good source of large cell quantities. STEMCELL offers leukopaks in a range of sizes (full, half, quarter, tenth), from which specific cell types can be isolated using EasySep™, RoboSep™, SepMate™ or Lymphoprep™. Once the required cell types are obtained, they can then be activated, expanded or differentiated with media and supplements such as StemSpan™ or ImmunoCult™. The resulting cells can be analyzed or cryopreserved with their ELISA kits or CryoStor® CS10, respectively.
MNCs are obtained from various tissue sources, including peripheral blood, bone marrow and cord blood, and are pre-aliquoted from a single donor. MNCs are available from the same donor, allowing you to request pre-qualification of the donor for your downstream assays.
Isolated Cell Types
Isolated primary cells include CD34+ cells, endothelial cells and specific immune cell subtypes (T cells, B cells, natural killer cells, dendritic cells, macrophages, etc.). Sources of CD34+ cells include bone marrow and cord blood, whereas isolated immune subsets are derived from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and include both lymphoid and myeloid cell types. Isolated primary cells help save you valuable time in the lab by allowing you to use these cells immediately in applications such as T cell suppression assays, gene editing or co-culture experiments. Request a copy of their wallchart for a handy reference on the frequencies of different cell types in various blood-related sources.
Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) are also available from STEMCELL and are isolated from healthy single-donor umbilical cord veins. A large number of HUVECs can be obtained from a single vial for consistent results. HUVECs can be used as an endothelial cell model to study physiological and pathological pathways, such as inflammation, angiogenesis, oxidative stress, hypoxia, and blood vessel formation.
Diseased-State Cell Types
STEMCELL offers a range of blood products from human patients with solid tumors (liver, kidney, etc.) or hematological cancers (myelofibrosis, acute myeloid leukemia, etc.). Their frozen PBMCs sourced from cancer patients are viable, functional, and ready for downstream assays. We also offer fresh peripheral blood and leukopaks from donors diagnosed with cancer, which can be further processed to isolate specific cell types, similar to normal high-yield primary cells (see above).
Partner with the Right Primary Cell Supplier
STEMCELL Technologies ensures you receive ethically sourced, high-quality biological materials by shipping all their human primary cell products with a Certificate of Analysis (CoA) that shows guaranteed quality control testing for cell count, viability, and purity. Human primary cell products are ethically sourced using Informed Consent Forms (ICFs) and protocols approved by either an Institutional Review Board (IRB), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and/or an equivalent regulatory authority.
Choose human primary cells based on donor specifications that include sex, age range, BMI range, ethnicity, blood type, smoker status, and more. You can ensure you get the cells you need by placing multiple lots on hold for testing and also save time by using their characterization services, including high-resolution HLA typing (Class I and II), CMV status, EBV status, vaccination status, genotyping, phenotyping, and FACS analysis. For more information on choosing the right services for you, contact the STEMCELL Technologies primary cells team.
Workflow Solutions
When developing personalized strategies and researching new therapies against diseases, the compatibility of tools and reagents used across experimental stages is critical for maximizing efficiency. With over 25 years of expertise in the development of cell isolation and cell culture reagents, STEMCELL Technologies can support every stage of your research workflow with standardized media, supplements, reagents, protocols, and more. Use their innovative technologies to isolate, culture, and cryopreserve your primary cells and start your research with confidence.
Cell Thawing
To standardize and streamline the thawing of large-volume cryobags for consistent and reproducible results, STEMCELL provides the ThawSTAR® CB automated thawing system, which is particularly suited for frozen leukopaks. Alternatively, for smaller volumes/vials of cryopreserved cells, choose the ThawSTAR® CFT2 system. Both systems help you eliminate the risk of contamination from water-bath-based thawing.
Cell Isolation
Isolate specific cell type(s) by using STEMCELL’s immunomagnetic, column-free EasySep™ platform — the fastest and easiest cell separation technology. The most recent addition is the Easy 250 EasySep™ Magnet, for efficient large-scale cell isolation from samples such as leukopaks. For scaling up cell separation, use STEMCELL’s RoboSep™ instruments to automate your cell isolations and reduce hands-on time.
Cell Culture
Whether you are activating, expanding or differentiating cells of interest, STEMCELL has you covered with specialized ImmunoCult™ and StemSpan™ media and supplement products for reproducible and reliable results.
Analysis of Cell Samples
Accurately detect and quantify analytes with enhanced sensitivity with STEMCELL’s ELISA kits, GloCell™ fixable viability dyes, and antibodies.
Cryopreservation of Cells
CryoStor® cryopreservation media enables stable and long-term cell storage, ensuring efficient post-thaw cell recovery and viability.
STEMCELL’s human primary cell portfolio continues to expand with exciting new products added frequently. To be among the first to know about new products, tools, and resources designed to help you with your research, simply complete this form.
*Certain products are only available in select territories.