The datasheet that came with my product does not state that material is sterile. Will it contaminate my cells?

Please note that all our products are not sterile unless otherwise indicated on their datasheets. If a product is not sterile, we cannot guarantee that it will not contaminate your cells. However there are a few basic precautions that can easily prevent bacterial or fungal contamination of your cell culture.

First, make sure that the culture media contains an antibiotic; this alone will prevent the majority of contamination issues.

Second, dissolve the product in either 100% ethanol or 100% DMSO. These solvents are not conducive to bacterial or fungal growth, and using them will prevent contaminants from multiplying in your stock solution.

Finally, solutions of most small molecules can be sterile filtered through a 0.22 µm filter if desired.  Please note, however, that there will always be some loss of the product to the filter.  Sterile filtering is the best precaution that can be taken against contamination.  However, the loss of material to the filter can introduce some variability into the experiment as well.