Sterile handling

Good laboratory practices in a cell culture lab include:

• Always wipe your hands and your work area with 70% ethanol.
• Wipe the outside of the containers, flasks, plates, and dishes with 70% ethanol before placing them in the cell culture hood.
• Avoid pouring media and reagents directly from bottles or flasks.
• Use sterile glass or disposable plastic pipettes and a pipette controller to work with liquids, and use each pipette only once to avoid cross contamination. Do not unwrap sterile pipettes until they are to be used. Keep your pipettes at your work area.
• Always cap the bottles and flasks after use and seal multi-well plates with tape or place them in resealable bags to prevent microorganisms and airborne contaminants from gaining entry.
• Never uncover a sterile flask, bottle, petri dish, etc. until the instant you are ready to use it and never leave it open to the environment. Return the cover as soon as you are finished.
• If you remove a cap or cover and have to put it down on the work surface, place the cap with the opening facing down.
• Use only sterile glassware and other equipment.
• Use continuous vigilance to guard against contamination.
• Be careful not to talk, sing, or whistle when you are performing sterile procedures.
• Perform your experiments as rapidly as possible to minimize contamination.