1. Who we are
This policy explains how Cell Culture Tools, the Cell Culture Lab Companion website at cellculturetools.com, handles information. The website is operated by Yanan Qi (“we”, “us” or “our”). For privacy questions or requests, contact privacy@cellculturetools.com.
The website provides research calculators and cell-culture reference information. You do not need an application account to use it. This policy covers this website; external websites and services have their own privacy policies.
2. Calculator inputs and saved work
Calculations run in your browser. The calculator code does not upload your entered cell counts, concentrations, supplement names, volumes, growth assumptions or results to an application database, and does not send these values to Google for advertising purposes.
Without optional saving, your current work is held in the open page. When moving between calculator and reference or saved-data pages, the app briefly uses session storage in the same browser tab to carry your inputs and preferences into the destination page. The destination removes that handoff entry when it reads it; entries older than ten minutes are not restored, and closing the tab clears session storage. This temporary handoff is not uploaded to an application database. Ordinary reloads do not restore unsaved work. If you turn on “Remember calculations and preferences”, or select “Save in browser”, the app stores your inputs, recent cell-line selections and up to 20 saved calculations with report snapshots in this browser’s local storage. Your light or dark theme preference is stored locally even when calculation saving is off. There is no cloud synchronisation.
Use Recent → Clear local data to reset saved calculations and preferences. Turning off “Remember calculations and preferences” removes the persistent calculation history, while work already visible in the open page may remain until you leave. You can also clear this site’s storage through your browser settings. Locally stored work has no automatic expiry and remains until it is cleared, replaced or removed by your browser.
Calculation reports (HTML or browser-generated PDFs), passage plans and schedule downloads are generated on your device. Reports contain your calculation inputs, results, cell-line context and the time of export. You decide where to store those files and whether to share them. Clearing this website’s data does not delete downloaded files.
In compatible browsers, the app exposes a read-only tool that a browser-connected assistant can use to read the current calculator inputs and results. If you use such an assistant, its provider may receive that information under its own privacy settings and policy. This is separate from advertising and does not provide access to the full saved-calculation history.
Do not enter patient identifiers, personal health information or confidential information you are not authorised to use. Device-local storage can be accessible to other people who use the same browser profile.
3. Information about website visits
The site is hosted through OpenAI Sites using Cloudflare infrastructure. Delivering and protecting the website involves processing technical information such as your IP address, requested page address, browser and device details, request time, referring page where supplied, and diagnostic or security events.
Hosting providers may process this information to deliver pages, maintain reliability, investigate faults and prevent abuse. Their handling and retention of information are also governed by their applicable service terms and privacy notices, including OpenAI’s Privacy Policy and Cloudflare’s Privacy Policy. We have not added Google Analytics or a separate analytics tracker to the current website.
4. Google AdSense and advertising cookies
We have integrated Google AdSense to support this website through advertising. Ads may appear once enabled and approved by Google. Advertising providers, including Google and participating third-party vendors, may use cookies, web beacons and similar technologies to deliver and measure ads, limit repeated ads, and detect fraud.
Google and other advertising vendors may use information about your previous visits to this website and other websites to personalise advertising, subject to applicable consent requirements and your settings. Google’s advertising cookies allow Google and its partners to show ads based on browsing activity across sites.
When Google’s advertising services load, your browser may share information such as the page address, IP address, browser or device identifiers, and advertising interactions. This processing is separate from the calculator’s local arithmetic. See how Google uses information from websites that use its services, Google’s advertising information and Google’s Privacy Policy.
Other vendors or advertising networks participating through AdSense may also set or read cookies. Where a consent message is displayed, its vendor options identify the participating providers and link to their information. These providers’ policies explain their own processing and available choices.
This privacy page does not load the AdSense advertising tag or Google’s consent-message tag.
5. Your cookie and advertising choices
- Consent messages: where Google’s consent message is shown, use “Consent”, “Do not consent” or “Manage options” to make your choices. When available, the “Privacy and cookie settings” link on the calculator pages lets you revisit or withdraw those choices. Google’s regional consent requirements cover visitors in the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland.
- Google advertising: you can opt out of personalised Google advertising through Google Ads Settings.
- Other participating advertisers: visit their policy or opt-out pages, or use the Digital Advertising Alliance’s choices tool to manage participating companies’ personalised advertising.
- Browser controls: your browser lets you block or delete cookies and local storage. This may remove saved work and preferences. Advertising choices can be browser- or device-specific, and you may need to make them again after clearing cookies or changing devices.
Declining personalised advertising does not necessarily remove all advertising. Depending on consent, location and service settings, contextual or limited ads may still be shown. The calculator functions do not require consent to personalised advertising.
6. How information is used and disclosed
Information is used to operate the calculators, remember choices you ask the app to save, deliver and protect the website, support advertising as described above, and respond to privacy enquiries. If you email us, we receive the address, name and information you include, and use them to respond and manage the request. Please include only the information needed for your enquiry.
Messages sent to our privacy address are forwarded through Spaceship to the inbox we use to manage enquiries. Spaceship and the receiving email provider process message content and delivery information as part of transmitting and storing those messages. See Spaceship’s Privacy Policy.
Hosting, advertising and email service providers may process information needed to perform their respective functions. We may also disclose information where required by law or where reasonably necessary to address fraud, security threats or legal claims. We do not sell saved calculator inputs or provide those inputs to advertisers.
Where data-protection law requires a legal basis, we rely on consent for processing that requires consent, legitimate interests in operating and securing the site and responding to enquiries where appropriate, and compliance with applicable legal obligations. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing that was lawful before withdrawal.
7. Retention, security and overseas processing
Device-local data remains under your browser’s storage controls as explained above. We keep privacy correspondence only for as long as reasonably needed to address the matter, document its resolution and meet applicable legal obligations. Hosting and advertising providers set retention periods for information they process under their own policies; we do not set a single retention period for all third-party cookies or logs.
Our service providers may process information outside your country, including in the United States and other countries where they operate. Their policies explain relevant safeguards and international-transfer arrangements. This site uses HTTPS, but no website, transmission method or storage system can guarantee absolute security.
8. Privacy requests and complaints
Depending on the law that applies to you, you may have rights to access, correct, delete or obtain a copy of personal information, restrict or object to certain processing, withdraw consent, or complain to a relevant privacy regulator. These rights are subject to applicable conditions and exceptions.
Send requests or complaints about information we hold to privacy@cellculturetools.com. We may need reasonable information to verify your identity and locate the relevant records. We cannot retrieve calculator data stored only in your browser; you can inspect or clear that data on your device. For information held independently by Google or another provider, use the controls and contact details in that provider’s policy.
9. Children and external websites
This website is intended for researchers, laboratory staff and students using scientific tools. It is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly seek personal information from them. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, contact us so we can investigate and address it.
Links to scientific sources, advertisers and other websites take you to services we do not control. Review their privacy policies before providing information to them.
10. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy when the website, its providers or applicable requirements change. The date at the top identifies the latest revision. Where a change requires fresh consent or a separate notice, we will provide it as required.