Chapter 1
Facilities and Equipment
1 Facilities
Tissue culture should be done free of microbial contamination. This can
be realized by keeping the room as free of microorganisms as possible,
and by using sterile techniques. If possible, three separate rooms, i.e., a
sterile room, an observation and maintenance room, and a washing and
sterilizing room, are desirable (Fig. 1). However, this requires a large space.
After the development of laminar flow cabinets (hoods), most investigators now use laminar flow cabinets rather than a sterile room. Therefore,
setting up one room with laminar flow cabinets, and another room with
equipment for observation and maintenance, has become common practice (Fig. 2). Washing and sterilization may be performed in a regular
laboratory, because modern sterilizing equipment does not liberate much
water vapor and heat. However, if strict sterility is required, it may be
better to place a laminar flow cabinet in a sterile room (Fig. 3).
2 Equipment
The laminar flow cabinet (Fig. 4) is a cabinet that has a constant flow of
air passed through a filter. Most commonly, a flow cabinet in which the
air flows from the inside to the outside is used (Fig. Sa). However, when
working with pathogens and other hazardous materials, the use of an
air-circulating flow cabinet is recommended (Fig. Sb). The inside of the
UV Fluorescent light
0 0 0 0 0/8
Bench
Microscopes
0 0 0
lWasher
Stools
D D D
r -
~
Incubator
Refrige~utoclave
.c
'-'
ratar
c
D D
'"
'"
Centnfuge
Sleeve
pry oven
- - - 1 - 1 f- lncubator ~~uz
~ir Shower
I Shelf I Locker
r---Corridor
Fig. 1. A sterile room system (example 1)
OVERVIEW
Laminar
flow
cabinet