A Summary of Incubator Types and Purposes

by Kevin Smith Author

In many ways, pharmaceutical incubators are one of the most important creations in human history. The ability to incubate substances to help fight diseases and infections revolutionized medicine and reinvented the concept of life expectancy. There is three types of incubators, you should be aware of.

Three Types of Incubators

Bacteriological Incubators: These are used for the incubation and cultivation of biological products under tightly managed conditions. These types of incubators are generally managed by digital and computerized controls, including temperature management by thermal sensors. Environmental conditions like humidity and temperature can be controlled with this type of incubator and that allows for the creation of specific environments conducive to bacterial growth.

Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) Incubators: These are used to test products at lower temperatures where biochemical oxygen demand is a factor. They are generally used to grow fungi like yeast and molds. They contain both heating coils and a compressor for heating and cooling and they generally are used at lower temperatures. Applications that would demand this type of incubator include germination studies, culturing of bacteria and the study of micro living organisms.

Co₂Incubators: These incubators are used in research and testing where carbon dioxide has to be controlled. They are principally used for Anaerobic bacteria enumeration purposes.

Pharmaceutical Incubators

In vitro studies and the growth of cell cultures requires strictly controlled environments to get optimum results. Often, within a pharmaceutical environment, physiochemical conditions have to be replicated for proper testing to take place. Pharmaceutical incubators’ purpose is to create the ideal environment for cells to replicate. They are usually very strictly controlled in terms of the environment and just about every factor possible is able to be managed and monitored. For example, a typical pharmaceutical incubator allows for the control of temperature, humidity, airflow, carbon dioxide content, etc.

Depending on what is being tested, analyzed, observed or documented, pharmaceutical researchers can use an array of different types of incubators. In some cases, more than one can be used for various stages of research. The key is making sure the environmental requirements of the research subjects are met and maintained at an optimum level.

Each of the three main types allows for the control of specific environmental factors in a laboratory environment, which ensures that the testing that is done is uniform in application. One way of being able to do that is to use pharmaceutical incubators that are tailored for each type of research need.