The Fundamentals of Cell Culture - Training Course

ECACC is pleased to announce a new course launched in autumn 2011: ‘The Fundamentals of Cell Culture’. This 4 day course has a balance of cell culture theory, classroom based workshops together with a strong emphasis on practical skills.

Summary of Course Content

• Origins and principles of cell culture
• Qualitative characteristics of cell cultures
• Good Cell Culture Practice (GCCP) (Includes: control of facilities, equipment, reagents)
• Cell counting and analysis
• Cryopreservation
• Cell banking and subculture (variety of different systems)
• Selective culture and cloning
• Primary cell culture techniques
• Cell line misidentification
• Strategies for identity testing
• Detection of microbial contaminants inc. Mycoplasma
• Solutions for dealing with cell cultures at various scales
• Problems and trouble-shooting
• Cell culture application workflows
• Application based practical experiments

Description of Course Content

For more than twenty years ECACC has been providing cell culture training; the content and format has been continually adapted and improved in response to the needs of end users.

This new course will cover the origins and principles of cell culture, the qualitative characteristics of cell cultures and the theory behind selective culture and cloning. Primary cell culture techniques will be explored in theory and in practice. The principles of Good Cell Culture Practice (GCCP) will be covered in detail to ensure that all delegates are well grounded in the control of facilities, equipment and all materials and reagents used.

The practicalities of cell counting and analysis by various techniques will be appraised and addressed through classroom based workshops and there will be practical sessions devoted to cryopreservation, cell banking and subculture into a variety of different systems for current applications.

The issues of Mycoplasma and cell line misidentification will be covered in detail and there will be lectures on strategies for identity testing and detection of microbial contaminants including Mycoplasma. Solutions for dealing with cell cultures at various scales will be discussed together with strategies for dealing with cell culture problems and trouble shooting.

The course will close with a review of cell culture application workflows, a set of application based practical experiments and finally a multiple choice quiz preceding the award of certificates.

We are pleased to announce that the renowned author and cell culture expert R. Ian Freshney PhD will be delivering the foundation lectures on this course along with ECACC’s own expert team of trainers. Ian is an honorary Senior Research Fellow of the Institute for Cancer Sciences at the University of Glasgow. He has edited numerous successful books, including the hugely popular Culture of Animal Cells (now in its 6th Edition), and Culture of Human Stem Cells and is in demand world wide as a lecturer and consultant.

Venue

The course is held at the ECACC laboratories located at the following Health Protection Agency site, in the south-west of England:

Health Protection Agency
Microbiology Services
Porton Down
Salisbury
Wiltshire
SP4 0JG
UK

Course Price

Accommodation is booked on your behalf at a hotel in Salisbury although this is not included in the course fee.

The course fee includes transport between the hotel and ECACC, a comprehensive training manual, lunches and refreshments at ECACC.

How to Register
To secure a place on our courses simply complete the Registration Form and return with a purchase order to the correct value.

We will contact delegates approximately one month before the course date confirming their reservation and providing accommodation and travel details.

If you require further information on our courses, please contact our Training Course Administrator at hpacultures@hpa.org.uk or on +44 (0) 1980 612773