Quality Control Kit, StemCell QC, BM

Built around standardized colony-forming unit (CFU) workflows, the STEMCELL Technologies Human Bone Marrow QC Kit lets cell-processing laboratories benchmark their consistency at setting up, culturing, and scoring hematopoietic progenitor colonies once per month across a full twelve-month period. Operators thaw one of twelve cryopreserved vials of pre-tested human bone marrow mononuclear cells, dilute the cell stock to a lot-specific 10X Plating Density, and add 0.3 mL of that suspension into a 3 mL tube of MethoCult™ H4034 Optimum before plating into 35 mm tissue culture dishes.

Cultures incubate for 14 days at 37 °C in 5% CO2 with humidity greater than 95%, then colonies are counted in situ using an inverted microscope. The kit supports enumeration of four colony types — CFU-E, BFU-E, CFU-GM, and CFU-GEMM — with scoring performed at total object magnification of 20-30X for an overview scan, 40-63X for CFU-E counts, and 100-125X to confirm ambiguous colonies. A blue filter enhances the red color of erythroid colonies during identification.

The package contains 24 x 3 mL tubes of MethoCult™ H4034 Optimum (twelve are required for the QC workflow, with the remainder available for follow-up testing), 12 x 100 mL bottles of IMDM supplemented with 2% FBS, Trypan Blue in a 20 mL bottle, 40 sterile 35 mm culture dishes, 5 x 60 mm gridded scoring dishes, 15 sterile 3 mL syringes paired with 16 gauge blunt-end needles, and a printed Atlas of Human Hematopoietic Colonies for morphological reference. Lot-specific information letters (Document #29115 or #29116) state the predetermined cell concentration needed to reach the Final Plating Density. MethoCult™ H4034 Optimum itself is formulated with methylcellulose in IMDM plus FBS, BSA, 2-mercaptoethanol, and recombinant human SCF, GM-CSF, IL-3, G-CSF, and erythropoietin. Cryopreserved cell vials should remain frozen until use, semi-solid medium tubes are stored at -20 °C, and IMDM bottles are refrigerated; the printed Certificate of Analysis captures each component's shelf life. Tracking colony counts month over month surfaces shifts in incubator performance, freezer integrity, or technologist technique before they compromise transplant-release testing.