TLC for 293T

I started cell culturing today. Okay, I know that that isn’t the correct term, it’s tissue culture. I’m really excited about it though. This is the first time I’m going to handle mammalian cells, barring that silly experiment in the 10th grade where they make you scrape out cheek cells and look at them under a microscope.

No, this time it’s proper human cells from a proper cell line. A cell line is a strain of cells that are unique in their genetic composition. And they’re stable, as in they don’t mutate or change properties in any way easily. Stable bacterial cells are called strains. Stable plant and animal cells are called cell lines.

The cells I worked with today are from a line called 293T. These cells are mutants from embryonic kidney cells. They’re not aggressively invasive, like a lot of other lines. The HeLa line, which I hope to work with some time down the line, is aggressive. Also, 293T is kinda sensitive to temperature and nutrients. It needs a lot of TLC (37°C, perfect osmotic balance, the works), which is probably why it isn’t very aggressive either. Can’t really survive outside the body.

And since they need so much TLC, we’re gonna focus on just keeping them alive and getting them to proliferate, for the next two weeks. After that, I’m not quite sure where we go. I’ll keep you posted, though.