Description

About our Donors

Our healthy human PBMCs are sourced from a renowned world-class blood collection center that has been a pioneer in many screening processes. All donors have been tested for various infectious diseases, including HIV and Hepatitis B/C, as well as normal levels of hemoglobin. Further, donors undergo a screening questionnaire to disclose vital statistics, medication, cancer history, and travel history to ensure that they are healthy and their PBMCs will reliably serve your research endeavors.

Application Summary for Human PBMCs

Human PBMCs can be used for a wide variety of immunology-based applications. In-vitro immunoassays, such as ELISPOT, mixed lymphocyte reactions, cytotoxicity assays to measure ADCC or CDC, and plaque assays are routinely performed using these cells. In addition, PBMCs are also used in ex-vivo applications, such as cell population characterization and generation of genetically modified cells through retroviral infection.

Isolation of PBMCs

Peripheral blood is obtained from responsible facilities that have many years of experience collecting samples. Since the facilities are local, the blood is quickly transported to iQ Bioscience’s laboratory for processing.

Once at our lab, PBMCs are isolated by performing density centrifugation with Ficoll, a high molecular weight sucrose solution, to remove red blood cells under sterile conditions. Depending on the species (human or non-human) of blood, either 1.077 or 1.084 g/ml Ficoll is used, resulting in a perfect layer of mononuclear cells that are separated from plasma, platelets, granulocytes, and erythrocytes. Additional quality control steps are taken to isolate and prepare PBMCs that ensure the highest viability for cryopreservation and downstream experimental applications.

Cryopreservation and Storage

Our human PBMCs are cryopreserved carefully using iQ Biosciences’ cryopreservation protocol that ensures high viability (> 90%) after thawing.

Cells should be stored at < -120°C once they are received, such as within a liquid nitrogen tank (vapor phase).

Quality Control Process

We implement random sampling per lot to test for viability and cell counts to ensure they meet specifications, which are recorded on the Certificate of Analysis that is included with each shipment. Cell counts are obtained using a manual hemocytometer and then cross-referenced with an automated cell counter. Each lot is also characterized for unique cell populations by immunophenotyping, in which the results are also recorded on the Certificate of Analysis.