Eradication of mould from cell culture facility cold room
Double cycle approach ensured all surfaces were exposed to the HPV process
A prestigious London university contacted Bioquell to bio-decontaminate a cold room within a cell culture facility following a recurring mould issue. The cold room was used for storage of reagents as well as finished product and the loss of the cold room facility had a large impact on the operation of the facility. Prior to the deployment, a Bioquell engineer visited the site to discuss the clients’ requirements. They also offered advice on how to maximise the efficacy of the process by managing the movement of potentially contaminated items before and after the deployment.
Simply moving items from the contaminated cold room to another cold room could have potentially contaminated the ‘clean’ cold room. Equally, moving contaminated items back into an area after treatment could have potentially re-contaminated the clean area.
After discussions, it was decided that the best approach was for the university to run down stock levels a week before the deployment and arrange for all finished product to be stored in a different ‘clean’ cold room. Once the room was empty, it was subject to a physical clean, removing all visible traces of mould flora. The chilling coils were shutdown allowing the room to return to ambient temperature but the circulation fans were left running to ensure the entire ventilation system was subject to hydrogen peroxide vapour (HPV) exposure.
Items of laboratory equipment remaining in the cold room (balances, flask shakers etc.) were placed onto wire racking to minimise the occluded surfaces and a first HPVexposure cycle performed. Upon completion of the first cycle, the RBDS team re-entered the room and offset all items slightly to ensure that all surfaces occluded during the first cycle were exposed for the second cycle.
Chris Langley, RBDS Life Sciences specialist said: 'The criticality of the cold room to the customer meant that a double cycle approach ensured that all surfaces were exposed to the HPV process, even the areas below furniture feet. The approach worked and no subsequent mould has been recovered.'
