Hi,

 

I've had a contamination of my cell culture and the plate if packed with these square virus-like structures! I have no idea what they are but they are proliferating rapidly. Any ideas of what this strange invador is??!!

 

Thank you.

 

Loukia

Their different sizes reminds me of crystals. Descriptively, they seem more octahedral (8-sided, "double pyramid") than square (6-sided), so googling octahedral virus might help you find your answer.

The fact that they can clearly be seen under a light microscope confirms that it is not a virus, as viruses are too small to be seen. It cannot be just crystals though because they have been growing really fast. I cannot think of anything else though!! :/

crystallisation can be a fast process.

 

and those things are definitely crystals of something.

 

so some component of your media is crystallising out of solution. are you using a highly supplemented media?

 

is there a potential that you could have added too much of a concentrated supplement?

As I_a said, under favorable conditions crystallization can occur within minutes. Do you have evaporation issues?