Cell Culture

[Loukia]

 

Hi,

 

I've had a contamination of my cell culture and the plate if packed with these square virus-like structures! I have no idea what they are but they are proliferating rapidly. Any ideas of what this strange invador is??!!

 

Thank you.

 

Loukia

[ewmon]

Their different sizes reminds me of crystals. Descriptively, they seem more octahedral (8-sided, "double pyramid") than square (6-sided), so googling octahedral virus might help you find your answer.

[Loukia]

The fact that they can clearly be seen under a light microscope confirms that it is not a virus, as viruses are too small to be seen. It cannot be just crystals though because they have been growing really fast. I cannot think of anything else though!! :/

[insane_alien]

crystallisation can be a fast process.

 

and those things are definitely crystals of something.

 

so some component of your media is crystallising out of solution. are you using a highly supplemented media?

 

is there a potential that you could have added too much of a concentrated supplement?

[CharonY]

As I_a said, under favorable conditions crystallization can occur within minutes. Do you have evaporation issues?