Cell culture is the process of growing cells under controlled conditions outside of their natural environment. For example, many people culture cancerous cells in order to study cancer. So what does it take to grow cells in a lab? Well, the cells are grown on plates or in containers like petri dishes, 6-well plates, or various sizes of flasks depending on how many cells you need. Then, you have to monitor and maintain the cells. Most of the time, the cells can be left in the controlled environment of the incubator to grow on their own, but when they need maintenance, like changing their media to give them fresh food or moving the cells to new containers, we do that in the cell culture hood, which is this space in front of me. It’s a specialized sterile space with controlled airflow to minimize any contaminants in the area, because we want to make sure your cells don't encounter any bacteria, fungus, or other things that would affect their growth. Different cell types often have different maintenance requirements for optimal growth and care, which is something scientists undergo lots of training for.