Cellseeker is a web-based suite of applications designed by scientists for scientists who are working in cell culture. First, there is Cellseeker Inventory, a free and easy to use tool to organize the cells and cryostocks of your laboratory. More applications will follow to support your daily cell culture work and scientific exchange.

Data processing and storage in Cellseeker complies to the General Data Protection Regulation of the EU. All Cellseeker data is exclusively stored on servers located in the EU. Data is encrypted and frequently backed up. You can find more details in our Privacy Policy.

You can contact us via Mail (support@cellseeker.org) or the chat function on this website. We are very happy to get your recommendations on how to improve our software. However, so far we have no plans for personalized versions of our software. Some degree of personalization is possible by editing the preferences.

Simply send us your request to support@cellseeker.org. We will delete your account with all data related to it and will send you a confirmation. Single user profiles within an account cannot be deleted in order to retain tracability of transactions . However, a user can be set inactive by the adminstrator of the account.

You can export your data from Cellseeker in the account user menu (purple circle with initials). Larger datasets will take a while to process. This export is meant for documentation purposes, you do not have to export your data as a backup. Automated backups of all data are frequently made to multiple server locations within the EU.

Cellseeker Inventory is a database which allows you to manage the cell collection of your laboratory and to inventory your cryostocks and cell banks. The application is tailor-made for cells, cloud-based and free of charge for Partnering accounts. Cellseeker Inventory is structured in three interacting levels of data.

1. CELLS: Your collection of cells. Here you create a profile for all the cells which are used in your laboratory including culture conditions, growth properties, and cell characteristics. You can upload photos, reference publications, and manage your biosafety documentation. Each cell line is identified by a unique cell ID.
2. STOCKS: For each cell line in your collection, you can register multiple lots of cryopreserved stocks. Each cell bank or stock will be identified by a lot-number. You can add further specifications like passage number, freezing date, and quality control information.
3. INVENTORY: This is your virtual cryo-storage mirroring your physical storage in your lab. You can check-in and check-out vials from your inventory to always have a correct overview about your stocks and know the location and properties of each individual vial of cells.

The ‘partnering’ plan of Cellseeker is free of charge. With the free plan you will have unlimited access to all basic functions of Cellseeker Inventory. This will not change. There are ‚personal‘, ‘professional’ and ‘premium’ plans for business users as well. These plans are free of advertising and provide some additional support features. Also, cells are per default excluded from partnering requests.

Cellseeker Sourcing is a plattform that is still under development. We belive that a lot of potential is slumbering in the cryo-tansk of laboratories working with cells around the world and we want to faciliate the exchange of research cell lines for partnering and collaborations. It will be possible to publish cell lines on Cellseeker Sourcing directly from within Cellseeker Inventory with one click and no further effort. If you do not want a cell line to be published, you can mark the entry as ‘private’ to exclude the cells from Cellseeker Sourcing.

All your information in Cellseeker Inventory is protected from unauthorized access. Only very limited, non-confidential information is copied to Cellseeker Sourcing, namely the name of the cells, basic properties (e.g., species, tissue, morphology, and general genetic modifications) and potential applications. No detailed information about modifications or properties, sequences, uploaded data or images, or any information about cell stocks or the actual use of the cells will be published. Cellseeker will not disclose your identity or affiliation with the cells. For more details, please refer to our Privacy Policy.

Everyone can register for an individual account in Cellseeker. However, if you are sharing the cell collection of your laboratory with others, you might want to agree with your team who will set-up and administer the account for all of you. You can register multiple users under one account and assign different roles to them.

The user who creates an account initially becomes the owner of the account. Afterwards, this role can be transferred to another user of admin level. The owner is also the contact person for the Cellseeker support.

Admin level users and owners can make changes to the account settings and manage all users.

Users of the manager level can change storage, approve, and block lots and edit cell line data.

Standard users can read all info in Cellseeker and check in/out approved cells.

External users can only read the part of the database that was assigned to them by an admin or manager level user.

Under Settings -> Preferences you can define and modify the pre-set values of the data fields. Choose a field form the listing at the left to see the assigned pre-set values at the right. Grey values are defined by the system and cannot be changed. However, your custom values can be edited or deleted. If you delete values that are in use, you will be asked to assign a new value instead. By doing this you can also consolidate values. By clicking on the plus icon on top right you can create new values. If you define a new value in the cell data sheet, the value will also be listed here and can be edited.

See also our blog post ’setting your preferences‘

Users can be members of multiple accounts. To join an account you must be invited by the owner or admin of the account. The invitation must be send to an email already regsitered to your Cellseeker user. Otherwise , a new user will be created. You can find invitations to accounts and switch accounts in the ‚user account menu‘ (purpe circle with initials on the right) -> my accounts.

No, you can assign any name. However, we highly recommend following some general rules. Choose a short and descriptive name (refer to published or commercial names). It should include basic information on the cell type, the origin, and the genetic modification. This will make Cellseeker Inventory a more powerful tool for you to use.

You will see this checkbox only in the ‘partering’ account. Some general information on the Cells entered in Cellseeker Inventory may be listed in Cellseeker Sourcing, a public global data base which will be built to support the scientific exchange. However, you might have cells which you do not want to make public at all. You can mark these cells in your collection as ‘private’ by checking the respective box. These cells will be excluded from any listing in Cellseeker Sourcing. If you sign-up for a ‘professional’ or ‘premium’ account, all cells will be set to ‘private’ per default. If cells shall be made available for research collaborations or licensing under these accounts, they can be selectively marked ‘for partnering’.

See also: What is Cellseeker Sourcing?, What information will be published in Cellseeker Sourcing?

You will see this checkbox only in a ‘professional’ or ‘premium’ account. Cells that are marked ‘for partnering’ will be listed in Cellseeker Sourcing for research collaborations or licensing. Cellseeker Sourcing is a freely accessible global data base which will be built to support the scientific exchange. Cellseeker Sourcing will also support the commercial advertisement of cell lines for sale.

See also: What information will be published in Cellseeker Sourcing?

All newly added stocks of cells are blocked by default to prevent an unauthorized or premature use. Only after a user at manager level has ‘approved’ the stock by clicking the respective icon in the upper right, vials can be checked-out and used by everyone. For stocks which have been set to ‘approved’ the entered information cannot be edited anymore by a regular user. A manager or administrator can still make changes of course. They can also set the status of a stock back to ‘blocked’ again.