A split shaker for an incubator, the incubator defining an incubation chamber, wherein the split shaker includes a disk drive motor for driving a shaking table, a disk drive motor including a stator assembly disposed outside the incubation chamber, and a rotor assembly disposed inside the incubation chamber having a central shaft and a rotor turntable mounted on the central shaft; wherein the rotation of the rotor turntable drives a shaking movement of the shaking table.

Disclosed is a biomanufacturing apparatus (1) comprising a housing (20) including top (22) and bottom (24) faces which allow stacking of plural housings, an access door (25) at a front side of the housing, a substantially enclosed bioreactor chamber (30) inside the housing accessible via the door, and a further substantially enclosed region (36) inside the housing containing electrical parts and/or electronic control components, the chamber (30) including: a tray (40/240) for supporting a bioreactor, a tray support (45/245) including a mechanism (44,47/244,247) for rocking the tray in use; the tray having complementary formations allowing movement of tray relative to the tray support toward the front side to allow more convenient access to the bioreactor.

A microscope parameter controller for controlling microscope parameters for handling, maintaining and/or imaging a sample. The microscope parameter controller for controlling microscope parameters is configured to determine at least one predefined setting of microscope parameters from one or more user-defined user settings of microscope parameters.

Aspects of the invention relate to liquid transfer systems including a pipette tip having a body defining an inner volume and having first and second ends, the first end arranged to transfer a volume of liquid into and out of the pipette tip and the second end arranged for attachment to a pipette, and a bladder sealingly attached to the body. In some embodiments, the bladder is disposable in the inner volume. The bladder may be defined by a membranous sac and/or a planar membrane. The bladder may be moveable in response to an applied pressure to transfer liquid. The bladder also may be stretchable to accommodate a volume of fluid. In some embodiments, the pipette tip is used in a cell culture incubator, with a manipulator including a pipette that is in fluid communication with the pipette tip.

A data collection hub and method wherein a controller is configured to receive data from a plurality of sensors sensing conditions related to the performance of operations on cells by at least one instrument. A database stores the data from the plurality of sensors and the controller is configured to compare data from the plurality of sensors for a past operation with the data for a more recent operation.

Aspects relate to an automated cell culture incubator and to methods for using such an incubator. In one aspect, the cell culture incubator includes an incubator cabinet having a transfer chamber and an internal chamber that are arranged to form an airlock configuration. In some embodiments, objects placed into the incubator cabinet are sterilized using ozone produced by an ozone generator. The incubator may include one or more transfer devices that move objects between the transfer chamber and the internal chamber.

An imaging apparatus is provided to facilitate epifluorescent imaging of three (or more) color channels and to perform phase contrast and/or bright field imaging of samples without manual adjustment of the imaging apparatus. This allows for automated imaging, over extended periods of time, of a plurality of samples by a device located inside an incubator without disturbing the incubator environment to manually adjust the apparatus. Also provided are embodiments to facilitate user swapping of removable optical modules and/or transillumination modules to allow the imaging apparatus to be adapted to different combinations of assays and/or fluorescent indicators so as to increase the variety of experiments and/or fluorescent dyes that can be imaged using the imaging apparatus.

An incubator configured to receive a predetermined number of cell culture chamber devices, each cell culture chamber device including an enclosure configured to contain a cell culture media. The incubator has a housing including an incubation chamber configured to contain at least a respective part of the cell culture chamber devices when received by the incubator, and at least one registration and/or detection device being integrated with the incubator and being configured to register and/or detect an illumination or visualisation signal after passing, reflecting, or propagating through at least a part of the enclosure of at least one of the predetermined number of cell culture chamber devices when received by the incubator.

A method for evaluating an adherent cell includes: obtaining an image of an adherent cell accommodated within a culture container; and determining whether the adherent cell is adhering to the culture container based on at least a profile shape of a contact portion of the adherent cell that is in contact with the culture container, the profile shape being specified from the image.

An incubator assembly includes an incubator enclosure having an internal chamber in which a controlled environment is maintained and which is defined by one or more walls. The incubator assembly further includes a jacket assembly mounted adjacent to at least one of the walls and having an internal airspace in which an internal fluid is enclosed for maintaining a homogenous temperature within the internal chamber. The jacket assembly further has a vent movable between a plurality of positions including an open position in which the internal fluid is allowed to exit the internal airspace into an ambient environment.