In article <Carolyn.Field-1111951628270001 at mg1_73.med.utas.edu.au>, Carolyn.Field at path.utas.edu.au (Caro Field) writes:
> In article <dtyyu.3.0010A1E6 at ucla.edu>, dtyyu at ucla.edu (David Tak Yan Yu) wrote:
>>> It has been very troublesome for someone in the United States to
> receieve cell
>> lines or monoclonal antibodies from outside the United States. Apparently,
>> any items which contain fetal calf sera have to be pre-approved by the
> Dept of
>> Agriculture. I would appreciate if any one has suggestion to expediate the
>> process.
>> Would it be possible to request the cells to be sent in a serum-free medium?
> This would probably depend on the type of cells you're talking about, but
> there seem to be more and more varieies of SFM, on the market these days
> for a widening range of cell types.
>Unfortunately not I fear - when I worked in the biotech industry doing
contract research we were asked to send cell lines back to customers in the US
after the contract was complete. We had to have complete documentation in the
form of certificates of analysis to show what serum had been used *throughout*
the culture process (going back over several years in somecases). My
understanding was that the major point of concern was that FCS derived from UK
cattle had not been used, following the BSE scare. New Zealand and US Serum
products were acceptable, however we had to have documentation to show that
this was the case.
Justin.
