**Abstract**

Rock snot, a species of diatom that produces nuisance growths in international freshwater rivers and streams, in Chile, Canada, New Zealand and other country, with consistently cold-water temperatures and low-nutrient levels, is produced by *Didymosphenia geminata* (Lyngb.) M. Schmidt (*D. geminata*) and is a complex problem in rivers. Its biology problem and its effects on ecosystems are still being investigated, yet no research has focused on the effects of *D. geminata* at the cellular level. We proposed to review and described an artificial river system to preserve *D. geminata* for obtained future study material to evaluate the effects of water contaminated by this diatom on cell models. Our preliminary results indicate the *D. geminata* altered several cell lines and cell function, and review of the literature suggested alteration in the biotic system on river with this plague. We proposed the described literature for exploring the possibility of building a model for maintaining *D. geminata* from Chilean rivers and used the biological material obtained from artificial river, like extract and contaminated water for studying the chronic effects on cells.

**Keywords:** didymo, cells, biotechnology
