The Safari Stem Cell Laboratory has all the equipment for processing stem cells, growing stem cells in culture, identifying,counting, and cryogenically storing stem cells.
This laminar flow hood prevents bacterial contamination while processing tissue and handling cultured cells.
Liquid Nitrogen is -200 degrees centigrade or -350 degrees Fahrenheit. Stem cells can be kept at this temperature potentially forever. Liquid nitrogen in the vapor phase is about -150 degrees centigrade. Stem cells are kept in the vapor phase of the liquid nitrogen. Getting the cells to this temperature is a process requiring a controlled rate nitrogen freezer by which the cells are cooled from room temperature down to freezing (zero centigrade) at the rate of one degree temperature drop per minute. At zero degrees, ice crystals start to form and ice crystals are lethal to stem cells so we must drop the temperature rapidly at the rate of 10 degrees per minute for the next 8 minutes to minus 80 degrees centigrade. From this temperature it is ok to plunge the cells into the liquid nitrogen vapor, dropping them to -150 degrees centigrade where they are stored. This painstaking method increases the freeze/thaw survival rate from 50% to 90%.
Our tissue culture incubators maintain the cell cultures at body temperature, or 37 degrees centigrade. Stem cells also require high carbon dioxide concentrations and this is added in these specially designed incubators.
Counting stem cells would seem simple but because stem cells are very fragile it is important to not only know how many cells there are, but how many live cells there are. The cell counter is an automated counter that uses fluorescent light channels and special stains to identify live cells vs dead cells. This counter also uses facial recognition type software to identify the cells and separate them from cellular debris so there are no errors in the total cell numbers.
Processing Stem Cells from your pets own fatty tissues. This sterile process involves using specialized chemical and equipment to gently separate and filter the stem cells from the fatty tissue. The cells are then counted using fluorescent dyes and lights that allow the live cells to be seen under the microscope. The Regenerative cells are then injected into the area that needs regeneration or given intravenously. Cells are also cultured and frozen for later use.
