Scientists knew they had to keep their cultures free from bacterial and viral co

Question

Scientists knew they had to keep their cultures free from bacterial and viral contamination, and they knew t was possible for cells to contaminate one another if they got mixed up in culture. But when it came to HeLa, they had no idea what they were up against. It turned out Henrietta's cells could float through the air on dust particles. They could travel from one culture to the next on unwashed hands or used pipettes; they could ride from lab to lab on researchers' coats and shoes, or through ventilation systems. And they were strong: if just one HeLa cell landed in a culture dish, it took over, consuming all the media and filling all the space.

Explanation / Answer

It was very well known to the scientists that cultures should be pure, means It should not contain any other cells like bacteria and viruses. Other side It was also known that animal cell lines such as HeLa was most sensitive towards these contaminations. Contamination can pass from one culture to another culture by unwashed hands, used pipettes, through researcher's lab coats, shoes or even through ventilation systems. They also knew that only single cell of HeLa consume complete media and nutrients.

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