STEM I is led by Dr. Crowthers with a large research project. We begin by identifying interests in the summer, and then spend the first six months of the year developing our independent projects. From brainstorming to reading papers and presentations, Dr. C emphasizes that this class is more about the “how” of research than the “when” of research. Updates with Dr. C allow us to share our progress, collaborate with peers, and receive continual feedback.
Main takeaway
The aim of this study is to determine the possibility of goat milk and colostrum as substitute of Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) in cell culture. FBS, the most used growth medium, is challenged by the rising costs, hence protecting research accessibility in the developing regions. The study involved tyndallizing and sterilizing goat's milk and colostrum and then cultured 3T3 cells. Unexpectedly, some cells began to die around 80% confluency, possibly due to an incubator failure. In contrary to this dilemma, tentative results show that goat colostrum can be equivalent to FBS in promoting cell growth. Notably, the cost analysis pointed out an economic benefit, whereby colostrum and milk cost $20 and $3, respectively, vs. FBS (50ml each) costing $250. Future research avenues could involve expanding the study to multiple mammalian, primary, and non-mammalian cell lines to get a complete picture of the potential of goat's milk and colostrum as low-cost alternatives in cell culture.
Abstract
Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) is widely used in culturing cells as it is a very versatile and efficient growth medium. However, FBS is extracted from the blood of a cow fetus and is often very expensive with prices always on the increase. Mainly, the cost of FBS prevents developing areas from conducting research. This project investigated the effect of using goat’s milk and colostrum as an alternative for FBS by culturing multiple cell lines using FBS, milk and colostrum. The milk was initially tyndallized, centrifuged to remove fat globules, then sterilized using ultraviolet radiation for 3 hours. Afterwards, 3T3 cells were gradually introduced to milk and colostrum. Unfortunately, all the cell plates were found dead at around 80% confluency. The hypothesized reason for cell death is a malfunction in the incubator that the cells were in. The confluence indicates that goat colostrum could be almost as effective as FBS in culturing these cells but more data needs to be collected to determine if it is actually better, especially for 3T3 cells. Although the same volume (50ml) of each additive was used, it costed $250 for FBS, while only $20 for colostrum and $3 for milk which is significantly cheaper than FBS. The research can be expanded by testing the effects of colostrum and milk on other mammalian cell lines, primary cell lines and non-mammalian cell lines.
Graphical Abstract
Analysis
Seen under the microscope, the confluency of all the plates was around 80% and the
cells were found dead at the same, we can expect the milk and the colostrum to have some
type of effect. The reason for the cells to die was first assumed to be contact inhibition but
we found more confluent plates that were cultured prior to the project will a higher
confluency. The problem could have been with the incubator that the cells were resting in as
it was recently modified and cleaned. The 3T3 were the first cells to.
Furthermore, when the milk and colostrum were placed in agar plates to test for
contamination, some unknown compounds were discovered. These compounds could either
be lactose molecules, big proteins, uncaptured fat globules, and dead cells. The reason to
believe that the milk was not contaminated, and the compounds found were not dead cells
because the cells did not show any signs of contamination. Additionally, the smell of the milk
that was processed was still sweet unlike the unprocessed milk which smelled bad and
showed signs of bacteria.
