TICK CELL BIOBANK: ASIA OUTPOST

TICK CELL BIOBANK: ASIA OUTPOST

The Tick Cell Biobank Asia Outpost, was established in the Tropical Infectious Diseases Research & Education Centre at Universiti Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in the year 2018. There are four Tick Cell Biobank labs in the world and Tick Cell Biobank Asia Outpost is the only tick cell biobank serving the Asia Pacific region. The Tick Cell Biobank houses a collection of ixodid tick-derived cell lines of medical and veterinary importance. As the Tick Cell Biobank Asia Outpost, we are part of an international network of laboratories that offer tick cell lines for research and education, with the main biobank situated in the University of Liverpool.

TCB provides training in tick cell line care and maintenance and tick cell cultivation. The goal of the outpost is to make available the resources and training necessary for the use of tick cell cultures to fellow researchers in the Asian region, in which many are from low- or middle-income developing countries, thereby improving the regional capacity for conducting research into tick-borne diseases. The tick cell lines have been introduced to isolate and propagate pathogens from environment specimens. This has created a valuable model for studying the biology of ticks and the mechanism of tick-borne disease transmission.