One of the challenges in respiratory research in general, and for COVID-19 related projects in particular, is to have access to relevant in vitro cell culture models. Human lung epithelium models are currently being tested as a platform for COVID-19 research and several cell types susceptible to SARS-CoV infection have already been identified. In this post, I’ll introduce lung primary cell models you may find useful, as well as other cell types that have been reported as involved in COVID-19 infections and the multiple severe associated syndromes.

tebu-bio is pleased to announce their new partnership for a European distribution of Novabiosis, a US based manufacturer providing cryopreserved primary human cells for the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical research fields. Their focus is on Kidney, Intestine, Lung and Liver tissues. They have developed multiple cell types for each organ, an asset for co-culture studies or 3D models development.

Tissue culture for Primary cell isolation are often jeopardized by the outgrowth of contaminating fibroblasts. As fibroblasts usually grow at a much faster rate compared to the target cell population, their expansion has to be tightly controlled to end up with a culture as pure as possible.

Single-cell isolation allows genomic and transcriptomic analysis of one individual cell. It is also required to build a monoclonal cell line from rare cell isolation, that could be for example CRISPR-CAS9 gene edited cells. There are 3 popular methods: serial dilution, micro-manipulation and flow cytometry. None of these are easy or simple, and they often require expertise and experience. Fortunately, a new solution for everybody has come! It’s designed to isolate a single cell in a few seconds, and it’s (quite appropriately) called the Smart Aliquotor.