Contamination Free Research Environment for Biomedical Labs?

Health care industry relies a lot on clinical research labs. It further has many departments working in different sectors like pathology, microbiology, haematology. Irrespective of the objective, all labs need to maintain a contamination free environment to get the right results. Some industries like beverage industries have their own biomedical labs to understand the culturing behaviour in their products. However, some industries rely on third party labs to conduct the research and testing. Apart from health industries, biomedical labs are important for the F&B industry. Because setting up a biomedical lab is a costly affair. Therefore, it is important to analyse the importance of instruments before investing money.  

Here is a list of commonly used instruments in biomedical labs;

• Laminar air flow bench
• BOD Incubator
• Hot air oven

For efficient research work, it is important to get the right atmosphere. If there is any bacterial flow in the air, that would lead to the contamination of the samples. Bacterial growth can be seen anywhere, on the instruments used for observation, on the handles of doors, on the slides on which specimen is taken and many other unexpected places.

BOD incubator – Incubator supports the culturing of microbes. Biological Oxygen Demand incubator creates a perfect environment for the microorganisms to reproduce. Now the question, why do researchers need to multiply microbes? In research and development, it is important to understand the growth rate of the microorganisms. This study is important in health care research, where the growth rate of virus need to be analysed so that antidote can be prepared.

Apart from health care, they are widely used in F&B and dairy industry to understand the culturing of bacteria. The test materials are kept in an incubator for certain time period and the growth of bacteria is analysed. This help the manufacturers to understand the shelf life of their product and thus deciding the expiration date.

Hot air oven – As the name shows, it is an oven that works on the principle of circulating hot air to initiate the sterilisation process. They are also called dry sterilisers. Hot air oven offered by Presto works on the temperature range from 50°C to 250°C. It has glass wool insulation and double door protection to avoid any heat loss. It has a glass door to peep in while not hampering the temperature of the chamber. The internal body is made up of stainless steel. It is equipped with fans and heater. The air inside the chamber is heated by the heater thus making them light in nature. This hot air moves towards the ceiling and colliding back to the bottom. This creates a circular motion of air inside the chamber.

Laminar air flow bench – This is the most preferred machine used to create the decontaminated and isolated atmosphere for the samples. Specimen collected need to rest for a while. Since they cannot be left open in the room as this would lead to multiplication of bacteria on the specimen. This machine protects the specimen from the dust, moisture and other environmental factors. It is equipped with HEPA filter. This filter blocks the dust particles from the air and allows only purified air to pass through. The device is crafted with precautions. The body is made up of stainless steel and there are no joints in the chamber. As chamber might initiate the growth of spores. Two type of air flow can be opted, vertical and horizontal. 

HEPA stands for High Efficient Particulate Air. The filter is designed in such a way so that it blocks very minute particle of the air. The filter has the capability of sieving 99.97% of particles with size up to 0.3 micrometres. It is a mesh made up of fibreglass arranged in a random order. The diameter of each fibre is 0.5 to 0.2 micrometre. However, the air particles should not be confused with the gaseous molecules or odour particles. Other volatile organic particles like flatulence, vapours and cigarette do not get filtered.

To make the laminar air flow bench work efficiently, it is mandatory to decontaminate the chamber periodically. UV germicidal lamp is used commonly for the decontamination of the chamber. It is always advised to take appropriate precautions while using this lamp as UV rays are harmful to the humans. The lamp is kept inside the chamber and closed for a certain time. It is important that lamp does not touch to make any contact with the walls of the chamber.