Hi everyone,
I hope you guys are doing well, in SIP and as well as in revising (!!) our other subjects. Hope You are in the pink of health too.. and unfortunately, I am not. haha.. it's the flu season again, i think~
I am here to answer some of the questions posed by some of you:
I will start with Sharon's -
How frequently do you clean CO2 cylinder and waterbath?
I hope you mean 'CO2 incubator', because I definitely do not clean any CO2 cylinder. >.^
- oops! I have just realised I typed 'CO2 cylinder' in my previous post~ Okay, am correcting it now -
The CO2 is stored in cylinders, and these cylinders (and the CO2) are supplied by Singapore Oxygen Air Liquide Pte Ltd. I place order for new supply/ies of CO2 every week, because the gas runs out every 7-9 days.
How frequent the cylinder has to be changed/ordered depends on 1. the amount of growing cells/microorganisms kept in the CO2 incubator, and 2. how frequent the gas leaks out of the incubator.
Say, for example, if I keep opening and closing the incubator, or open it for too long, more CO2 will be lost. So, yes, I have to be mindful when I am using the CO2 incubator.
The CO2 incubator is cleaned every month. This is to ensure no bacteria or any other microorganisms, that can contaminate the cell culture, grow in it. It will be a HUGE problem if there are contaminants! Imagine, you keep 20 flasks of rare cells in the incubator, and suddenly, they all died! And... it turns out that some fungi managed to sneak into the flasks and eat up all the nutrients in the media. nightmare!
Here is a better description of how important keeping the CO2 incubator clean is:
Cleaning and Disinfecting CO2 Incubators
A CO2 incubator is a basic piece of equipment in any laboratory involved in cultivation of in vitro cells. The culture bottles must be kept slightly opened in order to allow the penetration of CO2, and enable the formation of a bicarbonate - CO2 buffer system, which is the most common buffer system for tissue culture. Leakage of medium from the culture bottles, high humidity, suitable temperature, the water tray and the air flow, all form a fertile breeding ground for the development of contaminants in the incubator, which are liable to contaminate the tissue culture in all the semi-opened culture bottles.
As soon as contamination appears in the incubator, it is very difficult to eliminate it, and severe damage can be caused. Therefore, it is essential to systematically clean and disinfect the incubator. It is recommended to disinfect every 14 days, or once a month at the very least.
Retrieved August 11, 2008, from Biological Industries website
Firstly, I take out the tray (one at a time), place it at the sink and run DI water over it. Then, I spray 70% alcohol on the tray and wipe/dab with tissue paper. All these must be done quickly, to minimise the tray's exposure time to the surrounding air (i.e. dust may settle on the tray).
After all the trays and incubator wall (just spray with 70% alcohol) have been cleaned, the last item is the water tray, which should be cleaned and then filled with sterile water. What is the water used for? It is to maintain humidity inside the incubator.
To be safe, my lab uses Aquaguard 1 solution, a disinfectant from Biological Industries, to disinfect the water in the tray. 50mL of Aquaguard 1 to every 5L of sterile water.
Okay, as for the waterbath, the water has to be changed every 4 or 6 weeks. DI water, to be exact. We use Aquaguard 2 solution to disinfect the water. 2mL of Aquaguard 2 to every litre of water.
What is the difference between Aquaguard 1 and 2?
Simple: Aquaguard 1 is especially for CO2 incubator, while Aquaguard 2 is for waterbath. This is what stated at the supplier's website. It does not state the composition though.
Okay, hopefully this answers your question, Sharon. Do drop me a comment (or sms, even better! hehe) if you have any other doubts. See you this Friday, ya? ^_^
I-am-at-TP-library-going-home-soon,
Nor Liyana
0607927A
0 comments:
Post a Comment