Applications CFU Assay Course-UK-Summer

STEMCELL Technologies hosts a hands-on, instructor-led training course focused on Colony Forming Unit (CFU) assays, scheduled for the UK summer session. The two-day programme takes participants through the complete workflow: preparing single-cell suspensions of hematopoietic progenitors from bone marrow or cord blood, plating cells in methylcellulose-based MethoCult medium, incubating cultures at 37°C under 5% CO2, and scoring burst-forming units (BFU-E), granulocyte-macrophage colonies (CFU-GM), and multilineage CFU-GEMM after 14 days. Practical bench work covers correct dilution of nucleated cells, aliquoting 100 uL of cell suspension per 35 mm dish, and identifying common artefacts such as cell clumping or microbial contamination. Sessions also address data interpretation, comparing treated versus untreated samples, and applying CFU readouts to drug screening, gene editing validation, and regenerative medicine workflows. The course is aimed at early-career researchers, core facility staff, and industry scientists working in cell biology and immunology. Class size is capped to ensure individual bench time, and attendees receive a starter kit of reagents, course materials, and a certificate of completion upon finishing the programme.