To keep contamination at a minimum, clean the inside of the hood weekly, remembering to remove the working surface and clean underneath. Be sure the hood is validated on a regular basis. Never pour media, always pipette. Always wear a lab coat. Wait 60 seconds for the air currents to stabilize inside the incubator. Pull hair back and be sure to never have bare flesh inside the hood. Use plenty of alcohol and wipes but remember, it is not the application of alcohol that sterilizes, it is the evaporation. Good sterile technique will allow production from the cartridge for many months or more. We have produced a monoclonal antibody for over one year of continuous production.
New cell lines should always be quarantined until a mycoplasma screen has shown negative. The presence of mycoplasma contamination can be hard to detect without specific assays. The culture will just appear to be non-productive.