Apparatuses, systems, and methods are provided for culturing a buoyant target tissue. Embodiments include a first surface configured to culture a first layer of supporting cells, and a second surface configured to culture a second layer of supporting cells. The first layer of supporting cells may be formed on a portion of the first surface and the second layer of supporting cells may be formed on a portion of the second surface. The buoyant target tissue may be added to the first layer of supporting cells. The second layer of supporting cells may be placed on the first layer of supporting cells such that the buoyant target tissue is sandwiched between the first layer of supporting cells and second layer of supporting cells.

Treatment of wastewater and particularly relates to a technique for wastewater treatment using renewable energy (RE) which is sole solar energy (SE). In bench scale experiment, a device is constructed to consist of two fixed upper and lower glass Petri dishes. Another device consists of plastic containers and both devices with the same volume of wastewater in the upper and distilled water in the lower container. The first device is placed on the bench beside a window to be exposed to sunlight at room temperature and the other device is put outdoors under direct sunlight during daytime. A build-up of small circular water droplets starts to appear on the external bottom of upper container. Water droplets are allowed to fall freely in the lower container, pH of droplets water is about 7.1. Yield of freshwater is at a rate of approximately 300 ml freshwater from 400 ml wastewater per 48 hours.

The present application relates to a transport packaging (20) for a plurality of petri-dishes (P), comprising a shell-like main body (21) with a compartment (22) for holding the plurality of petri-dishes (P) in a parallel orientation, the compartment (22) being accessible from an opening (23) at one side of the main body (21), and a rack-like structure (24) formed in the compartment (22) for supporting the petri-dishes (P) in a fixed position during handling and configured to allow insertion/extraction of the petri-dishes (P) into/from the rack-like structure (24) in a direction.

The present invention is directed to an apparatus for monitoring a cell culture comprising a) one or more infrared sensors positioned adjacent to a cell culture, the one or more infrared sensors capable of recording an infrared heat signal from the cell culture; b) a power source in electrical communication with the one or more infrared sensors; c) a data storage and computation device configured to receive and analyze the infrared heat signal from the one or more infrared sensors; and d) a transmitter device in electrical communication with the storage and computation device; wherein the apparatus monitors the pattern of heat production in the cell culture. The present invention is also directed to methods for monitoring and analyzing the metabolic activity of cells using the above apparatus.

A holding tool is configured to efficiently and reliably enable a close contact between a container and a lid with a simple mechanism and a simple operation. The holding tool is configured to be used together with a container and a lid for the container to sandwich the container and the lid. The holding tool includes a base on which the container is placed, and a cover configured to cover the lid. The base and the cover each have an opening at a central portion and are configured to engage with each other to press and sandwich the container and the lid upward and downward.

The invention provides a device for growing cells—referred to as a cassette. The cell culturing device includes a housing that contains a lid having an optically clear window; a fluid distribution channel; a sample injection port fluidically connected to the fluid distribution channel; a base housing a porous media pad; and a media injection port fluidically connected to the media pad. The lid mates to the base to form a sterile seal; the fluid distribution channel is disposed over the media pad, which is viewable through the optical window; and sample fluid introduced into the fluid distribution channel is distributed evenly to the media pad, e.g., via a plurality of channels. The invention also provides kits that include cassettes of the invention and a tube set.

A microorganism culture sheet is provided which can limit the use of a costly cultivation material to a necessary portion, which has simple production at the time of manufacture, and can be simply and stably used by a user. The microorganism culture sheet of the present invention is a microorganism culture sheet comprising a base sheet, a culture layer formed on top of the base sheet, and a cover sheet that covers the culture layer, and the culture layer is pattern-formed with an application liquid comprising a polyvinylpyrrolidone and at least on selected from the group consisting of a gelling agent, a nutrient component, a color indicator, a selective agent and a substrate.

The present invention relates to systems and methods involving interconnected plate components, including bases, lids and covers, interconnected in a manner such that a continuous strip of each component is prepared. The continuous strips may be stored as rollstock in a reel style. The physical properties of each continuous strip allow the base, lid and/or cover to include means for positive control. In one embodiment, the continuous strip of bases is advanced and processed through an automated system with positive control, and remains in the form of a continuous strip until agar in the bases is cured, at which time the bases are singulated. When a lid is applied to a base using methods described herein, an airtight seal is formed improving the quality of culture media used in testing.

The present disclosure describes systems and methods for centering a circular object, such as a petri dish, between a plurality of pins. For example, in one embodiment, a method comprises placing a circular object on a rotatable platform surrounded by three moveable pins. In order to roughly center the circular object, the method further comprises moving, for a first time, all of the pins toward the circular object until at least two out of the three pins are touching the circular object. In order to more accurately center the circular object, the method further comprises: moving all of the pins away from the circular object so that it can be rotated without substantial inference; rotating the platform approximately 60 degrees, wherein rotating the platform causes the circular object to also rotate by approximately 60 degrees; and moving, for a second time, all of the pins toward the circular object.

An apparatus for dispensing microorganism culture plates, culture plate loader and culture plate reader comprising the same, as well as method dispensing microorganism culture plates, method of loading such culture plates into a culture plate reader, and method of counting microorganism colonies on such culture plates.