Cell Culture: The Basics 3rd June 2025
Learn techniques required for the in vitro cultivation of cells in a laboratory.

* * This course contributes to the Royal Society of Biology's Technical Skills Certificate

Overview

Cell culture is the process by which prokaryotic, eukaryotic or plant cells are grown under controlled conditions, the culturing of cells derived from animals. You will learn how cells are stored long term, and the techniques to thaw and set up cell cultures and passage, removal of the medium and transfer of cells to a new vessel.
Cells can be grown adhering to the bottom of a plastic flask or in suspension. The simple techniques that you learn will be used to passage cells without contamination. These exercises will enable you to familiarise yourselves with sterile cell culture techniques and equipment.

Aims

The broad aims of the course are to:

• Provide the foundations of cell culture, why it is an important skill for research and how it is applied across bioscience and medical research.
• Introduce the equipment and techniques of cell culture.
• Demonstrate how to freeze and thaw cells.
• Provide practical application of passaging and counting cells in culture.
• Provide the dos and don'ts of aseptic technique.

Who is the course for?

Biological and medical scientists who wish to learn the basics skills to be able to culture cells. No prior knowledge of cell culturing or aseptic techniques will be required, and the purpose of the course is to offer a practical point of access to these techniques in a practical user-friendly form.

Learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding

1. Understand the different methods of cell culture, the types of cells cultured and contamination.
2. Practical application of generic methods to freeze, thaw, passage, and count cells in culture.
3. Understand the importance of refining a good aseptic technique.

Skills, qualities, and attributes

1. Learn the basics cell of culturing and able to apply them appropriately to different cell types.
2. Learn the basics of aseptic technique and able to apply to other areas of biological and medical research.

Course tutors

This course will be run by James Fox PhD MPharmacol (Hons) AFHEA CSci FIScT.
James is an experienced Laboratory Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry. Biosafety Practitioner Level 1 (ISTR) with experience of working in- and managing-category 3 laboratory facilities. Skilled in Flow Cytometry, Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR), Life Sciences, Confocal Microscopy, and Student Supervision. Strong research professional with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) focused on Biochemistry from Imperial College London.
James is currently the Deputy Operations Manager for the Department of Biology at the University of York. He is a member of the Technician Commitment Delivery Group, a Science Council professional registration evaluator and editor for the IScT.