Finding the Right Shaking Incubator

Shaking incubators are also known as environmental shakers. These are a type of lab equipment which you can use for different purposes. These include solubility studies, aeration of cells, culturing of cells, and more. Such equipment provides a consistent temperature as well as orbital agitation.

You can set the shaking incubator at different speeds to promote cell growth. Usually, these types of equipment have adjustable stroke lengths. This is important for various applications and cells. It's necessary for you to understand the value of shaking incubators. To do this, let's answer some of the most common questions about them:

What are shaking incubators?

Shaking incubators have a specialized design and you can use this equipment to incubate and agitate or shake samples simultaneously. They're suitable for different applications in laboratories. This equipment is for cell aeration and culture, experiments on solubility, and more.

With this equipment, you don't have to place a separate shaker within your incubator. If you regularly need to combine incubating and shaking, then a shaking incubator is the right product for you. With this, you’ll have a versatile piece of equipment that you can use to shake and incubate all your samples.

Shaking incubators can also help simplify processes in your laboratory. They can also help to improve your control over the operations you perform. Think about it, if you have a separate shaker, it's more complicated. Each time you need to adjust the shaking settings, you have to open your incubator. Because of this, you'll temporarily lose the temperature you've set. This is why shaking incubators are much more convenient. You merely put your samples inside, adjust the settings, and start the machine.

How do shaking incubators work?

As we've stated, you can use shaking incubators for multiple uses. Because of its distinct design, you don't need to use a separate shaker. A shaking incubator works by evenly distributing nutrients throughout your sample. Also, it incorporates oxygen throughout the culture sample.

Shaking incubators also provide consistent temperature conditions. Finally, they make use of an orbital agitation at different speeds. These speeds affect the growth of your cell cultures.

What are the main features and benefits of shaking incubators?

Shaking incubators are very convenient. This is mainly because they can shake and incubate samples simultaneously. The machine also maintains a stable internal atmosphere. It doesn't change even while you adjust the shaking parameters.

These are available in different shapes and sizes. They also have different specifications. Such equipment is an excellent addition to cell culture laboratories.

What factors should you consider when choosing the shaking incubator?

If you're thinking about purchasing a shaking incubator, you need to know exactly what to look for. There are different types available out there, and they all have vivid features, styles, and sizes. If you don't know what to look for, finding the right shaking incubator may be quite challenging. To help ease the process, consider these factors:

First off, you need to consider the size of the shaking incubator you need. Choosing the right size would depend on some factors. Think about what you will incubate how many samples you'll incubate each time and more. Aside from the size, also find out the capacity of the machine. Floor-model shaking incubators are typically able to manage more samples. That is as compared to the benchtop ones.

You should also consider the atmosphere and temperature control. For atmosphere control, check whether you need to adjust the sterilizing, humidity, UV lights, and CO2 when incubating. For temperature control, you keep a check on the temperature range while shaking. Some units may also come with refrigeration as an added option.

The next thing for you to consider is the equipment's shaking motion. Most shaking incubators create a horizontal-circular or orbital motion. This is adequate for mixing liquids and is also beneficial for culturing cells. Find out the orbit size and agitation rate of the machine. These can affect the mixing and aeration of your samples.

Then, think about the lighting of the shaking incubator. A lot of floor-model machines have fluorescent light features. Some benchtop models have this feature too, and it's vital for photosynthetic studies. Also, some models have UV light bank features which are very useful for sterilization.

Aside from all these features, also consider the extras. Some examples of extra features are digital interfaces, alarms, cooling coils, and more.

Do you need this piece of equipment?

If you want to promote cell growth, you need to provide the best possible conditions. To do this, you need some shaking mechanism. This will help distribute nutrients evenly and incorporate oxygen into your samples. In the past, people have done this by placing a shaker inside an incubator.

But now, there are shaking incubators which can combine the functions. This allows for more efficient and convenient setup. You can use the shaking incubator for growing different kinds of cells. These include yeast, tissue cultures, bacterial cultures, and more. The sizes of such equipment vary so you can choose one which will fit into your laboratory. If you want to improve your processes in the lab, then you need a shaking incubator.