Hydrogen peroxide decontamination of IncuSafe CO2 Incubators

The value of the laboratory cell culture incubator used in highly regulated research and clinical protocols is directly related to the ratio between incubator uptime and downtime in applications where frequent interior chamber decontamination is required or desired. The need for interior decontamination before initiating new applications for in vitro fertilization, stem cell research and regenerative tissue culture is more frequent than in longer-term cell culture work. Optimizing return on investment (ROI) favors short, labor-saving decontamination cycles with validation of the decontamination process for GMP applications.

The use of a H2O2 vapor generator in situ to decontaminate the cell culture CO2 incubator without using heat decontamination offers significant advantages in routine clinical and highly regulated research laboratories where costly downtime must be avoided. The combination of a seven-minute H2O2 vapor in the chamber, circulated by the incubator airflow fan, followed by exposure to narrow-bandwidth ultraviolet light establishes a thorough antimicrobial impact on all incubator walls, shelves, reservoirs, air plenums, sensors and other interior components without the time and expense of high heat cycles, leaving only small amounts of water droplets as a residual. Because all interior components are designed to remain in the chamber for H2O2decontamination during the process, use of a separate autoclave is avoided and the incubator can be returned to service in less than three hours.

PHCbi introduced cell culture CO2 incubators with H2O2 vapor decontamination was introduced in 2009. The latest range of incubators complement the company’s proactive in situ contamination control systems first marketed in 2001.

The technical report shows how In a layered and orchestrated approach to cell culture incubation, predicated on good laboratory technique, the addition of H2O2 vapor to existing contamination control techniques meets strict requirements for a wide range of laboratory conditions and culture applications in accordance with standard FDA, EPA, and MDD guidelines.