One of the advantages of a collaborative research group is the ability to pool resources and results. It has long been recognised however that different media, supplements, serum batches and even CO2 levels/pH can present significant confounding variables in tissue culture based experiments rendering experimental comparisions between centres using different methodologies questionable.

Core members of BTNW and the Tissue Bank have agreed standardise tissue culture methodology to:

• Ham's F10 media with HEPES buffer, avoiding the need for CO2 buffering
• No glutamine supplement Shared batch tested FCS from a non-UK source
• Incubators run water saturated without additional CO2
• After initial disaggregation and plating, primary cells are cultured in media without antimicrobial drugs (Pen/Strep/Amphotericin)

Since CO2 is not required for the buffering system, flasks can be kept sealed which reduces contamination risk