Various Uses of Laboratory Incubators
In microbiology, laboratory incubators play an important role. Various biotech and microbiology breakthroughs depend highly on incubators. After all, laboratory incubators can help them create the environment necessary to culture cells.
Different Uses of Laboratory Incubators
Laboratory incubators can help recreate the ideal habitat so microbes can thrive. Microorganisms like viruses, fungi, and bacteria are highly sensitive to their surroundings and will only thrive under certain conditions.
Getting to know the behaviour of these microbes is important. This is especially true if they are the type to cause diseases and conditions that can affect an animal or human being’s overall health and wellbeing.
Since laboratory incubators create an environment that’s fit for culture, they provide cells with the humidity, CO2, O2 and temperature they need to thrive. The temperature will be regulated using air jackets or water.
Humidity on the other hand is kept constant by using fans and water baths that allow CO2 circulation. There are also lab incubators that are combined with hybridisation. These types of incubators also have other features including:
- Prevention of evaporation of media and sample desiccation
- Prevention of contamination
- Easy decontamination
- CO2, humidity, and temperature control
- Variable oxygen control
The features above are important to consider since they can affect the environment you want to achieve drastically.
Laboratory incubators also come with various specific functions that are all related to cell culture. For instance, shaking the incubators will add movement so the cultures are mixed. Gas incubators on the other hand work by regulating the internal gas composition in the cell culture environment.
Laboratory incubators typically have a redundant power source. This can help ensure that any experiments that are carried out will not be disrupted during power outages. They also come in different sizes—from floor to small tabletop models that can accommodate large amounts of samples.
