i.
A to F
- Autologous
- From the same individual. Autologous therapies use an animal's own cells or blood, so there is no donor and no risk of rejection.
- Biopsy
- A small piece of tissue taken for laboratory work. For cell banking, a skin punch of a few millimetres taken under local anaesthetic, usually closed with a stitch or two.
- Blastocyst
- An early embryo of around a hundred cells, a few days after fertilisation or nuclear transfer, at the stage when it is usually transferred to a surrogate.
- Cell banking
- Growing a living cell line from a sample and storing it frozen, so that the same cells can be thawed and used years later. The core of what Reem Bio does.
- Cell line
- A population of living cells descended from a single sample, which can be expanded, frozen and thawed again. It carries the complete genome of its source.
- Confluence
- The point at which cells cover the surface of a culture flask. Cultures are divided, or passaged, when they approach confluence.
- Cryopreservation
- Storing living cells at very low temperature in a protective medium, so that their biology is effectively paused without ice damage.
- Cryoprotectant
- A compound such as DMSO added before freezing to limit ice-crystal formation inside cells.
- Cryovial
- A small sealed tube, about one millilitre, used to store frozen cells. Each vial is barcoded and logged at every movement.
- Custodian
- The party that holds and cares for a sample on the owner's instructions, without owning it. Reem Bio is custodian of every line it banks.
- Enucleation
- Removing the nucleus from an egg with a fine pipette, the first step of nuclear transfer.
- Epigenetics
- Chemical marks on DNA and its packaging that change how genes are used without changing the sequence. One reason a genetic twin can differ from its donor.
- Explant
- A fragment of tissue placed in a culture dish, from which cells migrate out and begin to grow.
- Fibroblast
- The common cell of skin and connective tissue. Fibroblasts grow readily from a biopsy and freeze well, which makes them the standard cell for banking.
ii.
G to P
- Genetic twin
- An animal produced by cloning, sharing its nuclear DNA with the donor but born later and living its own life. Our preferred term for a clone.
- Genome
- The complete set of DNA in a cell. Almost every cell in the body carries the whole genome.
- Karyotype
- The number and structure of an animal's chromosomes, examined under the microscope to confirm that a cell line is chromosomally normal.
- Liquid nitrogen vapour
- The cold gas above liquid nitrogen in a storage tank, held below −150 °C. Vapour-phase storage avoids contamination through the liquid itself.
- Mesenchymal stem cell
- A cell found in fat, marrow and other tissues that can release signals influencing inflammation and repair, used in some veterinary regenerative therapies.
- Mirror vault
- A second storage site in another city, holding half of every deposit, so that one site can rebuild a line if the other is lost.
- Mycoplasma
- Very small bacteria that contaminate cell cultures without being visible. Every line is tested for mycoplasma before it is banked.
- Passage
- One round of detaching and dividing a culture into fresh flasks. Cells are banked at low passage, while they are youngest.
- PRP
- Platelet-rich plasma: a concentrate of an animal's own platelets, prepared from blood and injected by a veterinarian at the site of an injury.
iii.
R to V
- Registry
- Reem Bio's record of banked lines, each with a registry number, species, date of deposit and the two cities holding it.
- SCNT
- Somatic cell nuclear transfer: placing the nucleus of a body cell into an enucleated egg to create an embryo. The method used for cloning mammals since 1997.
- Sigil
- A glyph drawn from the hash of a line's genome profile. Each banked line has its own, printed on its registry plate and certificate.
- Surrogate
- A healthy adult female of the same species who carries a cloned embryo to term, under veterinary care throughout.
- Thaw test
- Thawing one vial from every deposit to measure viability before the line is certified.
- Viability
- The proportion of cells alive after thawing, measured by counting. A key test of a successful deposit.
- Vault certificate
- The engraved document issued once for every deposit, recording registry number, species, date and both vault cities.