Abstract
Growth in open-source hardware designs combined with the decreasing cost of high-quality 3D printers have supported a resurgence of in-house custom lab equipment development. Herein, we describe a low-cost (< $400), open-source CO2 incubator. The system is comprised of a Raspberry Pi computer connected to a 3D printer controller board that has controls for a CO2 sensor, solenoid valve, heater, and thermistors. CO2 is supplied through the sublimation of dry ice stored inside a thermos to create a sustained 5% CO2 supply. The unit is controlled via G-Code commands sent by the Raspberry Pi to the controller board. In addition, we built a custom software application for remote control and used the open-source Grafana dashboard for remote monitoring. Our data show that we can maintain consistent CO2 and temperature levels for over three days without manual interruption. The results from our culture plates and real-time PCR indicate that our incubator performed equally well when compared to a much more expensive commercial CO2 incubator. We have also demonstrated that the antibiotic susceptibility assay can be performed in this low-cost CO2 incubator. Our work also indicates that the system can be connected to incubator chambers of various chamber volumes.
Highlights
Biological incubators are necessary for growing many different cell types
To overcome the limitations of commercially available products suitable for portable and lowcost (
By using dry ice stored inside a thermos as a source of CO2, we were able to maintain a 5% CO2 level and 37 ̊C for over three days
Summary
Biological incubators are necessary for growing many different cell types. Basic incubators for bacterial cultures are often inexpensive and obtainable, incubators that are suitable for mammalian cells and some selected bacterial cultures must be able to control and regulate their internal temperature, carbon dioxide levels, and humidity. Maintaining CO2 levels at 5% simulates the pH of common mammalian and bacterial cell culture data [1]. This necessary feature has driven up the price of many commercial incubators to about $5,000, which is cost-prohibitive for smaller academic labs and other point-of-care settings. Our lab required a CO2 incubator for use in a near-patient setting away from laboratories.
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