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March 2021 Share

  Saliva-based tests can simplify, accelerate, and increase the availability of COVID-19 testing – and potentially lead to better patient outcomes.   The COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause illness across the world, but there is hope on the horizon as improved testing, treatments, and vaccines make their way to the global population. With the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants and mutations, however, it is more important than ever that testing …

February 2021 Share

What is an mRNA Vaccine? Messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) is genetic material that acts as instructions for cells to develop proteins. An mRNA vaccine harnesses the productive capabilities of mRNA to build up immunities by subjecting the body to proteins that will be recognizable in the future if naturally exposed to a virus. How do mRNA Vaccines Work? While most vaccines contain a weakened or inactive infectious pathogen, mRNA vaccines …

February 2021 Share

What Is Cell Clumping? When working with single-suspension cell cultures in a growth medium, it is not uncommon to experience cell loss in a sample. As cells are ruptured, they release DNA and debris that cause cells to aggregate into large clumps that make it difficult for them to expand. Cell clumping can both lead to and be caused by cell apoptosis, or cell death.  As more cells die and …

February 2021 Share

Isolating Cell Cultures from a Medium The process of culturing cells involves the introduction of a host population to a growth medium, allowing the population to reproduce quickly in a nutrient-rich environment. After enough cells have spawned to satisfy the requirements of the intended experiment, those same cells need to be removed from the cell culture medium. The cells are intertwined within the substance in which they multiplied and need …

February 2021 Share

Contamination in Cell Cultures Medical research is an ever-evolving field that continues to contribute to the advancement of human health. A key component of this type of research is the process of cell culturing, which involves the isolation and expansion of a cell population. The cell culture process begins with the extraction of a target sample. Once the desired cells have been acquired, they must be purified to minimize contamination. …

February 2021 By Dominique Badea, PhD Share

T Cells are a critical component of the immune system. They play a pivotal role in the body’s defense against infections, cancer, and a variety of other diseases. To harness the full potential of these immune warriors, scientists have worked hard on perfecting the art of T cell culturing. Research and development of new immunotherapies requires robust techniques to purify and culture T cells. This article serves as a primer …

February 2021 Share

T Cells and COVID-19 The body is naturally equipped with a variety of T lymphocytes that work together to fend off harmful pathogens. The human immune system routinely battles mild diseases with recognizable antigens. By attacking the source of a virus or bacteria, damage to healthy cells can be minimized. The T cell immune response to COVID-19 is different because it’s caused by an RNA virus (SARS-CoV-2). RNA viruses insert …

February 2021 Share

Use of Akadeum’s gentle Mouse T Cell Isolation kit results in a high purity T cell population while retaining cellular viability. Get an inside look at how Akadeum’s products perform in real-world research that is happening in laboratories across the country. A research group, led by Evan Scott at Northwestern University, used the Mouse T Cell Isolation Kit from Akadeum Life Sciences to obtain a high purity isolation of viable, …

January 2021 Share

Akadeum’s gentle Mouse B Cell Isolation kit produces high purity B cell population without affecting physiology or differentiation potential. Get an inside look at how Akadeum’s products perform cell separation in real-world research that is happening in laboratories across the country. A research group at the University of Pennsylvania used the Mouse B Cell Isolation Kit from Akadeum Life Sciences in their research into the mechanisms that underlie the differentiation …

January 2021 Share

Recent developments in COVID-19 immunology research look at the role T cells and B cells play in immune response to infection with SARS-CoV-2. The global scientific community has made great strides in characterizing the immune response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus responsible for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). There are several studies that have been published in recent months that take a closer look at how …