A utomated cell culture incubators generally are considered primary components of fully automated cell culture systems, which are able to monitor cell growth without human interaction. This tutorial is focused on automated cell culture incubators. It emphasizes the impact of automation on throughput and environmental controls (temperature, humidity, and CO 2) and proposes some basic protocols to check these functions. In addition, it details practical aspects for switching from manual to automated cell culture incubators.

A utomated cell culture incubators generally are considered primary components of fully automated cell culture systems, which are able to monitor cell growth without human interaction. This tutorial is focused on automated cell culture incubators. It emphasizes the impact of automation on throughput and environmental controls (temperature, humidity, and CO 2 ) and proposes some basic protocols to check these functions. In addition, it details practical aspects for switching from manual to automated cell culture incubators. ( JALA 2003;8:82-6)

We evaluated the benefits of automation on the technical performance of a new automated cell culture incubator, the Autocell 200®, developed by Jouan SA. In addition, we assessed the potential interference of the embedded mechanical parts on cell culture growth. We measured a throughput of 150 plates loaded per hour, and 120 plates unloaded per hour, which is compatible with an external robotic handler. The mean time of robotic gate opening was 7 s. The gate pathway minimized climate disturbances inside the incubator. For CO2, we used a delay between opening events of 1 min. Biological assay results did not demonstrate a significant difference between the automated incubator and a traditional manual incubator, but we concluded that automation using the Autocell 200® could provide meaningful benefits for cell culture.

W e evaluated the benefits of automation on the technical performance of a new automated cell culture incubator, the Autocell 200 R , developed by Jouan SA. In addition, we assessed the potential interference of the embedded mechanical parts on cell culture growth.We measured a throughput of 150 plates loaded per hour, and 120 plates unloaded per hour, which is compatible with an external robotic handler. The mean time of robotic gate opening was 7 s. The gate pathway minimized climate disturbances inside the incubator. For CO 2 , we used a delay between opening events of 1 min. Biological assay results did not demonstrate a significant difference between the automated incubator and a traditional manual incubator, but we concluded that automation using the Autocell 200 R could provide meaningful benefits for cell culture. ( JALA 2003;8:87-95)