One of the major challenges is maintaining the cells themselves. It can be hard to get reproducible results, especially when cell lines have grown through numerous passages. Slowing down this process is an interesting issue.
Cell-based assays are now attracting intense interest in the search for new drugs, as well as in the testing of toxicity of new and old chemicals used throughout our modern world. Often overlooked aspects of manufacturing cell-based assays are the shipping of the cells to the end user, and ensuring that the quality and utility of the product are maintained during its transfer.
Cell-based assays demand robust and healthy cells that can handle the rigors of automated processing and analysis. Every variation in the cell’s environment, like removal from incubators for analysis or medium changes, can cause variations in cell viability, cell phenotype or cell consistency. Or worse, it can affect assay results. Whether you are an end user, a producer or distributor of cell-based assays, it is important to attend to cell needs. If there would be a technology that would make your cells more robust over longer periods of time, this could help improve overall outcome, while saving costs and effort.
How can ROKEPIE® help?
ROKEPIE® essentially offers a new more “cell-friendly” approach towards the needs for short-term cell preservation. ROKEPIE® is the first product used as an additive rather than a complete preservation medium. For cell based assays, this could lead to longer storage duration and thus, longer distances traveled during shipment, resulting in a dramatically increased action radius without affecting behavior of your cells after transport.
Why is ROKEPIE® cell-friendly?
The specific formulation allows for much simpler preservation protocol since ROKEPIE® is added directly to the cell culture medium. After only a short incubation period you can take your cells to cold storage (2-8°C). Competitor products require complete change of cell medium before and immediately after cold storage, introducing two extra additional cell stress situations.
Furthermore, ROKEPIE® is also the first hypothermic cell preservation solution that supports growth at 37°C. This means ROKEPIE® doesn’t have to be cooled before it is introduced to the cell culture. And more importantly it can be left in the medium until cells are fully rewarmed and have recovered from cold storage without causing any cell damage or toxicity. This once again reduces cell stress caused by the preservation procedure itself.
Your top 5 benefits of using ROKEPIE®:
- Simpler preservation process with less exposure to stress – it’s an additive
- No toxicity levels upon rewarming – it’s non-toxic
- More robust, healthy cells after short-term preservation – it’s cell-friendly
- Same product and protocol for both short-term storage and transportation – it’s efficient
- Cell growth is supported upon rewarming at 37°C– it supports viability