Case Glossary

Cell lines are reproducing cultures of cells from multicellular animals.

Immortalised/continuous cell lines have undergone mutations or modifications that may allow them to multiply indefinitely.
HeLa, the oldest and most commonly used human cell line, was developed in 1951. Immortalised/continuous cell lines are widely used to study complex biological systems, for example for the analysis of the biochemistry and cell biology of mammalian cells.

Stem cell lines form a normal part of the development of a multicellular organism and can multiply indefinitely without modification. Stem cell lines are derived from one of three sources: embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells, or induced stem cells. Stem cells can be made to differentiate into different cell types. The ability to make stem cells differentiate into different cell types makes them valuable in medical research and potential treatments.

The main biosecurity risk of cell lines is the animal material used to develop and maintain the cell line (e.g. foetal bovine serum, trypsin) and contamination.

Goods include:

1. An animal.

2. A plant.

3. Any other article, substance or thing (including, but not limited to, any kind of moveable property); and, to avoid doubt, includes mail of any kind and ballast water.

The department will assess the application and on the basis of that assessment may decide to grant an import permit subject to any conditions deemed necessary for safe importation, use and disposal of those products.

It should be noted that applying for an import permit does not automatically result in an import permit being issued. The Director of biosecurity or their delegate issues the import permit. You should ensure that an application is submitted for each product type and that the prescribed fee accompanies the import permit application.

Laboratory organisms are those defined in the following list and must be contained under laboratory or animal house conditions: guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, rabbits, rats or microorganisms.

Microorganism includes any of the following (whether naturally occurring or synthetically created):

1. a single-celled organism (whether an animal or plant);

2. a bacterium;

3. a protozoan;

4. a fungus;

5. a plant pathogen;

6. a thing that is a part of a microorganism.

Examples: For the purposes of point 6, envelopes, enzymes, genetic material coding for a microorganism, proteins.

Primary cells are simply obtained by taking tissue from an animal or human. Although this is the initial step to creating a cell line it is not yet a cell line.

These cell cultures will not proliferate indefinitely and so have a limited lifespan. Primary cell cultures tend to consist of a mixed population of cells and will only produce the same types of cells present in the source tissue.

The main biosecurity risk of primary cells is the source of the cells and possible contamination.

A cell culture supernatant is the nutrient broth/cellular material etc. floating around the cells that are being cultured. Unless the supernatant is filtered it will often contain floating viable cells.