Cell banking services: the two-tier bank, the testing package each tier owes, and why storage location is a continuity decision

Building the bank

1. Two tiers, and why. A master bank is laid down once and drawn on rarely; a working bank is made from one master vial and is what routine production consumes. The structure exists so the master is protected and so every working bank has a traceable common origin, and it is worth adopting even in research settings.
2. Testing the master properly. Identity confirming the line is what it claims, sterility, mycoplasma, and adventitious agent testing to a panel appropriate to the origin and the intended use. This is the expensive part and it is the part that makes the bank worth having.
3. Characterisation beyond safety. Viability and recovery on thaw, growth characteristics, and for a production line the expression and quality attributes. A bank that is clean but does not perform is still a problem, and finding that out at the first working bank is expensive.
4. Split the storage. Hold the bank in at least two physically separate locations with independent power and monitoring. Freezer failures and building incidents happen, and a bank in one place is a single point of failure for everything that depends on it.
5. Records that outlive people. Passage history, the medium and reagents used, the date, the operator, the vial map and the test results. A bank whose provenance cannot be reconstructed cannot support a regulatory filing and is hard to trust even in research.

Outsourced storage

Commercial biorepositories offer monitored storage, documented handling and, usually, a second site. What matters in choosing one is the monitoring and alarm response, the backup power arrangement, the insurance position and what happens to your material if the company fails.

Ask specifically about retrieval: how quickly you can get vials, what it costs, and whether you can withdraw the whole bank if you choose to leave.

Research banks deserve the same discipline

Research laboratories frequently keep one uncharacterised set of vials and lose years when the line turns out to be contaminated or misidentified. Authenticating the line, testing for mycoplasma and laying down a small two-tier bank costs little against that risk.

Record the passage number at banking. Cells drift with passage, and a line compared at different passage numbers is not a controlled comparison.

Common questions

Why have a master and a working cell bank?

So that the master is protected and drawn on rarely, while routine work consumes working banks made from single master vials. Every batch then traces to one characterised origin.

What testing does a cell bank need?

Identity, sterility, mycoplasma and adventitious agent testing appropriate to the origin and intended use, plus viability, recovery and performance characterisation. The testing is what makes it a bank rather than an inventory.

Where should a cell bank be stored?

In at least two physically separate locations with independent power and monitoring. A single-site bank is a single point of failure for every programme depending on it.

Do research laboratories need cell banks?

They benefit greatly. Authenticating the line, testing for mycoplasma and laying down a small two-tier bank costs little against the years lost to a contaminated or misidentified line.

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