I am on the market for a "low cost" small volume cell culture incubator (but reliable). Is there anyone who has any recommendation for that?
Thanks for your feedback!
If you are looking for a homemade setup that people could use in their garage then here is a rough sketch of the plans. It also depends on your type of cells and if they need CO2. If you have a way to get 37C like a water coil or incubator then you can make or buy plastic sheeting to make a cube with a door (Chamber) then do the following. (1) Seal the door with automotive gasket maker (Buy at Autozone or Napa Autoparts). (2) Drill two holes and put a T-valve so you have an inlet and outlet. Then run CO2 in one valve and out the other at set pressure for a given time. (3) Tape a PH indicator on your chamber. (4) Test the timing so that your PH tells you if the CO2 concentration is right.
This will never give you exactly 5% CO2, but you can grow cells in these conditions. I have no idea what type of experiments you are doing so your hypothesis will have to guide you as to if this system will work. A workaround to the timing of CO2, but a bit more costly is to purchase pre mixed 5% CO2 and flood the chamber with it.
I suggest to contact Trigon - distributor in CZ and SK. They can offer suitable solution and have very reliable service.
Norbert
nous avons un petit Sanyo qui marche très bien. Nous l'utilisons pour placer les cellules transfectées en attente de les patcher.
Bonne soirée
Emmanuel
Lubica and Emmanuel, thank you very much for your valuable feedback - I will have a look at those two companies!
Je te souhaite une bonne chance dans la recherche de cet incubateur,,,,
If you are looking for a homemade setup that people could use in their garage then here is a rough sketch of the plans. It also depends on your type of cells and if they need CO2. If you have a way to get 37C like a water coil or incubator then you can make or buy plastic sheeting to make a cube with a door (Chamber) then do the following. (1) Seal the door with automotive gasket maker (Buy at Autozone or Napa Autoparts). (2) Drill two holes and put a T-valve so you have an inlet and outlet. Then run CO2 in one valve and out the other at set pressure for a given time. (3) Tape a PH indicator on your chamber. (4) Test the timing so that your PH tells you if the CO2 concentration is right.
This will never give you exactly 5% CO2, but you can grow cells in these conditions. I have no idea what type of experiments you are doing so your hypothesis will have to guide you as to if this system will work. A workaround to the timing of CO2, but a bit more costly is to purchase pre mixed 5% CO2 and flood the chamber with it.
Norbert,
Another simple alternative is to use a bacteriological incubator, which is fairly cheap, and to grow the cells in capped tissue culture flasks. To attain 5% CO2, just purge the flask briefly with 5% CO2 in air from a compressed gas cylinder and seal the flask with the cap. This will maintain the humidity in the flask and also the pH of bicarb buffered media quite well for at least a couple of days until you need to feed or transfer the cells again. At that time, just purge again with 5% CO2 in air when you are finished with the feeding or transfer.
Robert, than you very much for your reply and clever idea - we already got a small incubator though. But thanks again!
Benchmark Scientific has a very low cost, benchtop-sized CO2 incubator.
https://labincubators.net/products/mytemp-mini-co2-digital-incubator
https://labincubators.net/products/mytemp-mini-co2-digital-incubator
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