- published: 07 May 2015
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In vitro (Latin: within glass) refers to studies in experimental biology that are conducted using components of an organism that have been isolated from their usual biological context in order to permit a more detailed or more convenient analysis than can be done with whole organisms. Colloquially, these experiments are commonly referred to as "test tube experiments". In contrast, the term in vivo refers to work that is conducted with living organisms in their normal, intact state, while ex vivo refers to studies on functional organs that have been removed from the intact organism.
Common examples of in vitro experiments include (a) cells derived from multicellular organisms (cell culture or tissue culture), (b) subcellular components (e.g. mitochondria or ribosomes), (c) Cellular or subcellular extracts (e.g. wheat germ or reticulocyte extracts), or (d) purified molecules in the test tube (often proteins, DNA, or RNA, either individually or in combination).
Living organisms are extremely complex functional systems that are made up of, at a minimum, many tens of thousands of genes, protein molecules, RNA molecules, small organic compounds, inorganic ions and complexes in an environment that is spatially organized by membranes and, in the case of multicellular organisms, organ systems. For a biological organism to survive, these myriad components must interact with each other and with their environment in a way that processes food, removes waste, moves components to the correct location, and is responsive to signalling molecules, other organisms, light, sound, temperature and many other factors.
Vitro Corporation was a major United States defense contractor which became part of BAE Systems Inc. in 1999.
Vitro was incorporated in 1950 as the Vitro Manufacturing Company. Its main product was slide transparencies for overhead projectors. For some time prior to incorporation, the founders had produced tinted lighting gels for the theater and stage industry, and were known for their leadership in the production of gels used to replicate the lighting characteristics of the outdoors on a sunny day. These gels had this quality because of the admixture of salts of uranium, which are bright yellow. This business had positioned Vitro as a ready source of uranium during US military and scientific research efforts into nuclear energy during the Second World War. It seems likely that the confidential relationships developed in this time-frame with US government entities led to later contracting and development business arrangements.
In 1953 Vitro acquired the Kellex Corporation, a company involved in the development of the nuclear bomb. The same year the company reorganised as the Vitro Corp. of America. One of Vitro's earliest customers was the United States Navy, a relationship which continued into the 1990s.
A fear forms I cannot name
Pulsing in waves of sine,
In gaunt rooms, in pallid light
And flatlines
In faith I drank as from a spring,
Yet a bane makes itself in me,
And thirsts for the very things
I despise
Though by no choice of mine,
I see through my mother's eyes.
I look to a newer world
With the sunrise
Where birthrights endow;
Not to burden and bear,
But bless and bestow,
And baptize as heirs
But I'd be received with sighs
As the bane of my mother's pride;
As a stranger inside her womb,