CFU Assay Course-CA-Summer

Hands-on training from STEMCELL Technologies teaches Colony-Forming Unit methodology for evaluating hematopoietic progenitor cells through methylcellulose-based semi-solid culture. Participants learn to assess the clonogenic potential of stem and progenitor cells sourced from bone marrow, cord blood, and mobilized peripheral blood samples under controlled incubation conditions of 37°C with 5% CO2.

Instruction covers sterile sample preparation, accurate cell plating and serial dilution, and standard colony identification across erythroid (CFU-E, BFU-E), granulocyte-macrophage (CFU-GM), and multilineage (CFU-GEMM) morphologies. Trainees practice scoring criteria, microscopic enumeration, and data interpretation relevant to research use only workflows in stem cell biology, regenerative medicine studies, drug screening assays, and toxicology testing.

The curriculum also addresses common technical pitfalls, quality control of methylcellulose media aliquots, and best practices for documenting clonogenic output across replicate wells to support publication-quality data in hematopoietic research applications.