fetal bovine serum (FBS)… is derived from the blood of calf fetuses after their pregnant mothers are slaughtered by the meat or dairy industry.
I did not know this… and after reading the wiki, I found it rather disturbing…
The first stage of the production process for FBS is the harvesting of blood from the bovine fetus after the fetus is removed from the slaughtered cow. The fetus dies from the lack of oxygen by remaining in the protective environment of the uterus for a minimum of 15–20 minutes after the cow is dead…
The whole point of this art project is to suggest that using expired human blood serum is acceptable for growing lab meat btw. That’s what they used to culture the cheek cells. Took them several months to grow that amount though and cheek cells have very different requirements to muscle cells, so I dunno why they were presenting it as an option. Guess that’s why it was an art project and not a presentation at a conference.
I have read “The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks” and absolutely find it appalling that her cells were taken without her consent, and she and her family was never properly compensated.
I’ve only worked with HeLa cells once, and they were super hardy and easy to grow. Even if you forget to check on them for a week, they’ll start growing on top of each other when the monolayer becomes fully confluent. Easy to transfect as well.
I did not know this… and after reading the wiki, I found it rather disturbing…
The whole point of this art project is to suggest that using expired human blood serum is acceptable for growing lab meat btw. That’s what they used to culture the cheek cells. Took them several months to grow that amount though and cheek cells have very different requirements to muscle cells, so I dunno why they were presenting it as an option. Guess that’s why it was an art project and not a presentation at a conference.
That sounds like some Dark Souls/Evangelion shit. “Harvest the blood of the fetus after pulling it from its dead mother”
Me in the lab needing to use FBS for routine cell culture media…
So what do you think when you work with HeLas?
I have read “The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks” and absolutely find it appalling that her cells were taken without her consent, and she and her family was never properly compensated.
I’ve only worked with HeLa cells once, and they were super hardy and easy to grow. Even if you forget to check on them for a week, they’ll start growing on top of each other when the monolayer becomes fully confluent. Easy to transfect as well.