Hello,
I am interested in this research field. I have the prototype of my microfluidic chips, but I am having a hard time finding literature that says exactly how they incubate their chips (with syringe pumps and all) in the incubator? How is it done?
I want to culture cells in the channels in the chip, with a constant flowing media, but is it feasible to put the whole syringe pump into the incubator as well? TIA
Since you mention syringes, is your device attached to a syringe pump? In general, you need to leave all electronic equipment out of the incubator and connect the pump to your device through the thin tubes so the incubator door can easily close. To avoid the liquid inside the channels to dry up, you can place your microfluidic device in a petri dish, roll a small kimwipe, pour some water on top so it keeps the environment of microfluidic humid. If you are using the syringe to change the media in the device, you can try putting few drops of media on inlet and insert a kimwipe in outlet so it slowly drives up the media into the channel. Just ensure that your device s sterilized before you add the media so the media s not getting contaminated.
It s also a good idea if you dont culture too many cells in the channel from the start so you dont overcrowd the cells which can result in cell apoptosis.
Anne Yau
Have a look at the set-up I used
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Abhijeet_Singh10/publication/328278769/figure/fig14/AS:681779698606085@1539560355915/Experimental-setup-for-MSCA-A-Fully-automated-inverted-Nikon-Eclipse-Ti-microscope_W640.jpg
Thesis Microfluidic single-cell physiology analysis of Corynebacter...
Anne Yau
If you carefully see the picture or read the document (3.5.2.2. Experimental procedure & figure 16) you can probably understand the set-up. It is pretty much similar to what Yasaman Nematbakhsh was referring to.
The fiber-glass box around the microscope is the incubator. Actually, an incubator is nothing special but something with a constant temperature. If you can maintain a constant temperature in the room, you probably don't need any special incubator. But as I said, probably.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Biological Science
- Cell Biology
- Culture Cells