Good cell culture practice: human stem cells and organoids
A think tank of the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing
Time: November 30th – December 2nd, 2015
Venue: Cultural Center at the Cathedral in Konstanz
Outline: The advances in cell culture techniques and the establishment of in vitro test systems in research need to be accompanied with approaches to standardize processes and documentation. The "Bologna Statement on Good Cell Culture Practice" in 1999 prompted the ECVAM Task Force on Good Cell Culture Practice (GCCP) to produce two seminal guidance documents (1-2). Additional refinements were introduced in 2011 (3).
With growing availability of cultured organoids, and the increasing generation and use of pluripotent stem cells and their differentiation progeny, there is a need for revision and update of the GCCP guidelines for these new technologies. This includes quality assurance of supplied biological materials as well as consideration of ethical and legal aspects. This think tank follows up on an expert workshop on „Good Cell Culture Practice for Pluripotent Stem Cells“, which was held in June 2015 in Baltimore, USA. It attempts to build a transatlantic bridge that facilitates harmonization. The focus will be on GCCP regarding human cells and tissues and the quality assurance of cells obtained by reprogramming.
1. Hartung T, Balls M, Bardouille C, Blanck O, Coecke S, Gstraunthaler G, Lewis D; ECVAM Good Cell Culture Practice Task Force (2002).Good Cell Culture Practice. ECVAM Good Cell Culture Practice Task Force Report 1. Altern Lab Anim. 2002
2. Coecke S, Balls M, Bowe G, Davis J, Gstraunthaler G, Hartung T, Hay R, Merten OW, Price A, Schechtman L, Stacey G, Stokes W; Second ECVAM Task Force on Good Cell Culture Practice (2005). Guidance on good cell culture practice. A report of the second ECVAM task force on good cell culture practice. Altern Lab Anim. 2005; 33(3):261-87.
3. Anna Bal-Price, Sandra Coeke (2011). Guidance on Good Cell Culture Practice (GCCP) in Cell Culture Techniques. Michael Aschner (ed.), Cristina Sunol (ed.) and Anna Bal-Price (ed.). Humana Press. PP 1-25