Cell incubator

A cell incubator is an apparatus used to grow and maintain cell cultures. The incubator keeps cultures at an optimal temperature and humidity. Many will also regulate the carbon dioxide(CO2) and oxygen content of the atmosphere inside, in which case they are also called CO2 incubators. Cell incubators are essential for a lot of experimental work in cell biology and molecular biology and are used to culture both bacterial as well as eukaryotic cells. For mammalian cells, the chamber temperature is typically set to 37 °C, the relative humidity is >95% and a slightly acidic pH is achieved by maintaining a CO2 level of 5%.