From cryo stock

Skill level	Time to complete	Hands-on time	Requirements
🎒 No skill requirement	16 hours (E. coli)	3 hours	7.6a ≥ v2026.02a

To reactivate bacteria from cryo stocks, first add a precise volume of the cryo stock to a shake flask. Incubate the flask to revive the dormant bacteria and allow them to multiply, thereby creating a starter culture of active cells.

Choose between overnight and same-day reactivation of cells in cryo stocks

Overnight incubation helps activate cells and prepare starter cultures. We recommend this approach.

Same-day starter culture is also possible if a higher seeding ratio is used.

Overnight starter cultures from cryo stocks

Get starter culture provides a powerful approach to tune the seeding ratio for a High-quality culture when preparing an overnight culture. With this approach it is possible to get extremely consistent starter cultures.

Same-day starter culture from cryo stock

Usually it is possible to get a starter culture within the same day if you use a relatively high seeding ratio. The step by step guide is detailed in the subsequent pages.

1. Get things ready

2. Inoculate culture

3. Determine initial concentration

4. Determine concentration after incubation

Proceed to Get things ready for initializing the same-day starter culture from cryo stock protocol.