A biological hazard, or biohazard, is a biological substance that poses a threat to the health of living organisms, primarily humans. This could include a sample of a microorganism, virus or toxin that can adversely affect human health. A biohazard could also be a substance harmful to other living beings.
A microbiological culture, or microbial culture, is a method of multiplying microbial organisms by letting them reproduce in predetermined culture medium under controlled laboratory conditions. Microbial cultures are foundational and basic diagnostic methods used as research tools in molecular biology.
Cell culture or tissue culture is the process by which cells are grown under controlled conditions, generally outside of their natural environment. After cells of interest have been isolated from living tissue, they can subsequently be maintained under carefully controlled conditions. They need to be kept at body temperature (37 °C) in an incubator. These conditions vary for each cell type, but generally consist of a suitable vessel with a substrate or rich medium that supplies the essential nutrients (amino acids, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals), growth factors, hormones, and gases (CO2, O2), and regulates the physio-chemical environment (pH buffer, osmotic pressure, temperature). Most cells require a surface or an artificial substrate to form an adherent culture as a monolayer (one single-cell thick), whereas others can be grown free floating in a medium as a suspension culture. This is typically facilitated via use of a liquid, semi-solid, or solid growth medium, such as broth or agar. Tissue culture commonly refers to the culture of animal cells and tissues, with the more specific term plant tissue culture being used for plants. The lifespan of most cells is genetically determined, but some cell-culturing cells have been 'transformed' into immortal cells which will reproduce indefinitely if the optimal conditions are provided.
The Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure, or Budapest Treaty, is an international treaty signed in Budapest, Hungary, on April 28, 1977. It entered into force on August 19, 1980, and was later amended on September 26, 1980. The treaty is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Lacticaseibacillus casei is an organism that belongs to the largest genus in the family Lactobacillaceae, a lactic acid bacteria (LAB), that was previously classified as Lactobacillus casei. This bacteria has been identified as facultatively anaerobic or microaerophilic, acid-tolerant, non-spore-forming bacteria.
Vero cells are a lineage of cells used in cell cultures. The 'Vero' lineage was isolated from kidney epithelial cells extracted from an African green monkey. The lineage was developed on 27 March 1962 by Yasumura and Kawakita at the Chiba University in Chiba, Japan. The original cell line was named Vero after an abbreviation of verdareno, which means 'green kidney' in Esperanto, while vero itself means 'truth' in Esperanto.
THP-1 is a human monocytic cell line derived from an acute monocytic leukemia patient. It is used to test leukemia cell lines in immunocytochemical analysis of protein-protein interactions, and immunohistochemistry.
Medical microbiology, the large subset of microbiology that is applied to medicine, is a branch of medical science concerned with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases. In addition, this field of science studies various clinical applications of microbes for the improvement of health. There are four kinds of microorganisms that cause infectious disease: bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses, and one type of infectious protein called prion.
The National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, also known as NIMBB, is a research institute of the University of the Philippines (UP). It has four branches distributed across various UP campuses, namely: UP Diliman (NIMBB-Diliman), UP Los Baños (BIOTECH-UPLB), UP Manila and UP Visayas.
A biorepository is a facility that collects, catalogs, and stores samples of biological material for laboratory research. Biorepositories collect and manage specimens from animals, plants, and other living organisms. Biorepositories store many different types of specimens, including samples of blood, urine, tissue, cells, DNA, RNA, and proteins. If the samples are from people, they may be stored with medical information along with written consent to use the samples in laboratory studies.
The Leibniz Institute DSMZ - German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH, located in Braunschweig, is a research infrastructure in the Leibniz Association. Also the DSMZ is the world's most diverse collection of bioresources. These include microorganisms as well as more than 840 human and animal cell cultures, over 1,500 plant viruses, over 940 bacteriophages, and 250 plasmids. Since 2010, the scientific director of the Leibniz Institute DSMZ has been Jörg Overmann, a microbiologist with a PhD from the University of Konstanz. He holds a professorship in microbiology at the Technical University of Braunschweig. Since August 2018, he has led the institute with leadership with Bettina Fischer as administrative director.
The Belgian Co-ordinated Collections of Micro-organisms (BCCM) is a Belgian government funded consortium of seven scientific institutions, who manage and exploit a collection of microbial and genetic resources. The consortium comprises more than 269,000 publicly available strains of bacteria including mycobacteria and cyanobacteria, filamentous fungi, yeasts, diatoms and plasmids.
Bioresource engineering is similar to biological engineering, except that it is based on biological and/or agricultural feedstocks. Bioresource engineering is more general and encompasses a wider range of technologies and various elements such as biomass, biological waste treatment, bioenergy, biotransformations, bioresource systems analysis, bioremediation and technologies associated with Thermochemical conversion technologies such as combustion, pyrolysis, gasification, catalysis, etc.
An immortalised cell line is a population of cells from a multicellular organism which would normally not proliferate indefinitely but, due to mutation, have evaded normal cellular senescence and instead can keep undergoing division. The cells can therefore be grown for prolonged periods in vitro. The mutations required for immortality can occur naturally or be intentionally induced for experimental purposes. Immortal cell lines are a very important tool for research into the biochemistry and cell biology of multicellular organisms. Immortalised cell lines have also found uses in biotechnology.
A biological specimen is a biological laboratory specimen held by a biorepository for research. Such a specimen would be taken by sampling so as to be representative of any other specimen taken from the source of the specimen. When biological specimens are stored, ideally they remain equivalent to freshly-collected specimens for the purposes of research.
Molecular/Genomic reference standards are a class of ‘controls’ or standards used to check the performance of molecular diagnostic assays. Molecular/Genomic Reference Materials (RMs) are selected or engineered to model a specific genetic biomarker as it occurs in a patient biopsy. Reference materials (RM) are used for a calibration of the measuring system, for assessment of a measurement procedure, for assigning values to materials, or for quality control.
Biomatrica is a United States-based biotechnology company, and subsidiary of Exact Sciences Corporation, that develops chemicals for ambient temperature preservation of biological materials for the purpose of expanding the availability and accuracy of medical diagnostics and research. Specifically, the company focuses on improving the stability of biological materials, such as DNA, RNA, proteins, cells from patient samples used in research, and diagnostic testing reagents. Company scientists have developed alternatives to existing preservation technologies, such as cold storage and lyophilization (freeze-drying), to prevent degradation of perishable biological materials. Biomatrica's technologies are used in applications such as pre-analytic sample collection, diagnostic assays, biobanking, forensics, and basic research.
WI-38 is a diploid human cell line composed of fibroblasts derived from lung tissue of a 3-month-gestation female fetus. The fetus came from the elective abortion of a Swedish woman in 1963. The cell line was isolated by Leonard Hayflick the same year, and has been used extensively in scientific research, with applications ranging from developing important theories in molecular biology and aging to the production of most human virus vaccines. The uses of this cell line in human virus vaccine production is estimated to have saved the lives of millions of people.
The Coriell Institute for Medical Research is an independent, non-profit biomedical research center dedicated to the study of the human genome. Coriell features programs in biobanking, personalized medicine, cell biology, cytogenetics, genotyping, and induced pluripotent stem cell science. Located in downtown Camden, New Jersey, the Institute has partnered with several prominent state and national health leaders, including Cooper University Hospital, the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, the United States Air Force, the University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford University.
This glossary of virology is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in virology, the study of viruses, particularly in the description of viruses and their actions. Related fields include microbiology, molecular biology, and genetics.
