JP2018000163A - Incubator apparatus for isolators - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an incubator apparatus for isolators that can hold a larger number of culture vessels within a culture chamber without complicating work with an isolator.SOLUTION: An incubator apparatus 1 holds a plurality of culture vessels 20 for culturing cells, inside a culture chamber, while being connected to the inside of the culture chamber of an isolator for cell operations, to supply the culture vessels. A sidewall 11 closely fixed so as to block a vessel carrying in and out port of the isolator; and a sidewall opening 12 provided in the sidewall 11 and enabling the culture vessel 20 to transfer from the inside of the culture chamber through the vessel carrying in and out port to the inside of the chamber of the isolator along an in and out pathway are comprised. Furthermore, an opening and closing door that blocks the sidewall opening 12 in an openable manner; and a transfer mechanism for transferring a rack in which one or more of the culture vessels 20 are held in the vicinity of the sidewall opening 12 are comprised. The transfer mechanism circulates the rack to transfer it to the vicinity of the sidewall opening in order.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to an incubator apparatus that holds a plurality of culture containers for culturing cells inside a culture chamber and is connected to the chamber of an isolator to supply the culture containers.

  An isolator for aseptically manipulating cells is connected to a dedicated incubator device that holds a plurality of culture containers for culturing cells inside the culture chamber. Work is done.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses such an isolator and a dedicated incubator device. A multi-stage rack is installed in the culture chamber inside the incubator apparatus, and a culture container is placed on the rack to culture cells and the like. Furthermore, the incubator apparatus is installed on a cart with casters and is movable. Then, with the door at the side wall opening of the incubator device closed, it is connected to each other through the aseptic container between the door of the isolator container in the closed state and the door of the incubator device and the isolator. It opens and the culture chamber of an incubator apparatus and the chamber of an isolator are connected.

  By the way, there is a limit to the distance that an operator can work by extending an arm from the container loading / unloading port of the isolator to the rack of the incubator apparatus, and the isolator is a work using a glove having a limited range of motion. Therefore, even if it is going to hold | maintain more culture containers in the inside of the culture | cultivation chamber of an incubator apparatus, work will become complicated and it will become impossible to take out depending on the case. Therefore, it has been proposed to provide a moving mechanism for appropriately transporting the culture container to a position near the container carry-in / out entrance of the isolator.

  For example, Patent Document 2 discloses an incubator apparatus including a moving mechanism that transports a stacker containing a plurality of culture vessels from above a rack. Here, the culture containers on the rack are not transported one by one, but are transported together by a stacker. In order to transport the culture container and stacker safely, an electronic tag is provided for position management.

JP-A-2015-97480 Japanese Patent No. 5329724

  As described above, the side wall opening of the incubator device is provided in accordance with the opening area of the container carry-in / out port of the isolator, but since the cell is aseptically operated in the isolator, these openings that can communicate with the external environment should be made too large. Is not preferred. Therefore, it is considered that the side wall opening of the incubator apparatus is made smaller so as not to damage the sterile environment, but the work of the operator of the isolator becomes complicated.

  On the other hand, in order to hold a larger number of culture vessels in the culture chamber, a moving mechanism for transporting the culture vessels is provided inside the incubator device, and the culture vessels are moved to a predetermined position. Therefore, it has been proposed that a culture container on a rack or a stacker storing a plurality of the culture containers is pulled out and transported onto a transport path as in the system of Patent Document 2, but a complicated control mechanism for positioning is proposed. Since this is necessary, a simpler device is required.

  The present invention has been made in view of the situation as described above, and the object of the present invention is to allow a larger number of culture vessels to be held in the culture chamber without complicating the work with the isolator. Another object is to provide an incubator device for an isolator that does not damage the sterile environment.

  An incubator device for an isolator according to the present invention holds an inside of a culture chamber with a plurality of culture vessels for culturing cells and is connected to the chamber of the isolator for operating the cells to supply the culture vessel A side wall that is tightly fixed so as to close the container carry-in / out port of the isolator, and the side wall provided in the side wall from the inside of the culture chamber to the chamber of the isolator through the container carry-in / out port A side wall opening that allows the culture vessel to move along the carry-in / out path, and further includes an open / close door that closes the side wall opening in an openable / closable manner, and one or more of the culture vessels in the vicinity of the side wall opening. A moving mechanism that moves a rack that holds the rack, wherein the moving mechanism circulates the rack and sequentially moves the rack to the side wall. Wherein the moving in the vicinity of the mouth.

  According to this invention, since the position of taking out the culture container of the incubator device is always constant, the side wall opening can be made small, the aseptic environment is not damaged, and the work is performed with an isolator using a glove having a limited range of motion. It is easy, and a larger number of culture vessels can be held inside the culture chamber.

  In the above-described invention, the circular movement may be performed along a path surface parallel to the side wall of the isolator. According to this invention, the incubator apparatus can be made more compact.

1 is a front view of a system including an apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a flask used in the apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the (a) side and (b) front of the device according to the invention. It is a figure which shows the usage condition of the apparatus by this invention. It is the perspective view of the (a) side surface and (b) front of another device according to the present invention.

[Example 1]
One embodiment of an incubator for an isolator according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the incubator device 1 has a side wall 11 tightly fixed so as to close a container inlet / outlet 5 provided on a side surface of the isolator 2. The side wall 11 of the incubator apparatus 1 is provided with an opening 12 at a position communicating with the carry-in / out port 5 of the isolator 2 so that the culture chamber inside the incubator apparatus 1 can be connected to the chamber of the isolator 2. The opening 12 is provided with an opening / closing door (not shown) that can close the opening 12 and can be opened and closed from inside the isolator 2 via the globe 3.

  The incubator apparatus 1 is used to hold a culture vessel 20 (see FIG. 2), which will be described later, in a culture chamber, for example, to culture cells for regenerative medicine. The isolator 2 can carry out various operations for manipulating the cells to be carried out from the incubator apparatus 1 or carried into the incubator apparatus 1 and cultured in the culture container 20 in the chamber. The chamber of the isolator 2 is made into a sterile environment by decontamination, and is provided as a space where a hand can be inserted into the glove 3 provided on the front and the work can be visually recognized from the window 4. The globe 3 is also used for loading / unloading the culture vessel 20 between the isolator 2 and the incubator apparatus 1.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the culture container 20 has a generally rectangular flat shape as viewed from above so that a plurality of the culture containers 20 can be stacked, and the mouth portion 21 that can be closed by the lid 22 faces slightly upward. It is a provided flask.

  As shown in FIG. 3, in order to accommodate the culture vessel 20, the incubator apparatus 1 includes a plurality of racks 13 in the culture chamber. The rack 13 can mount one or a plurality of culture vessels 20. In this embodiment, the rack 13 can be mounted with two culture vessels 20 stacked. The rack 13 is attached to a moving mechanism 30 that circulates the rack 13 along a fixed path.

  The moving mechanism 30 is supported by a rotating shaft body 31 that is perpendicular to the side wall 11 and rotates, and a plurality of shaft bodies 33 that are attached along the outer periphery of the disk body 32 and extend in parallel to the rotating shaft body 31. Including. A rack 13 is rotatably suspended from each of the shaft bodies 33. That is, the rack 13 can be circulated along with the rotation of the disc body 32 while maintaining the direction suspended by gravity, like a ferris wheel gondola.

  A coaxial bevel gear 37 is fixed to the disc body 32. A drive-side bevel gear 36 that meshes with the bevel gear 37 is further provided. The drive-side bevel gear 36 is connected to a drive shaft 35 that can be rotated by a handle 34 provided outside the incubator apparatus 1, and can be driven to rotate by the handle 34. That is, by manually rotating the handle 34, the disc body 32 can be rotated and the rack 13 on which the culture vessel 20 is placed can be circulated.

  Referring also to FIG. 4, the circulation path of the rack 13 by the disc body 32 includes a portion for positioning the rack 13 in the vicinity of the opening 12. That is, the plurality of racks 13 can be sequentially moved to the vicinity of the opening 12 by turning the handle 34. As a result, a specific one of the racks 13 is moved to the vicinity of the opening 12, the opening / closing door of the opening 12 is opened, the culture vessel 20 is taken out using the hand inserted into the glove 3, and the chamber of the isolator 2 is removed. Can be moved to. In particular, it is preferable to arrange the circulation path so that the rack 13 can be directly opposed to the opening 12.

  As described above, according to the incubator apparatus 1, the take-out position of the culture vessel 20 can be always set to a fixed position by the rack 13 that circulates and moves. Thereby, even if the opening part 12 is made small, carrying in and carrying out of the culture container 20 between the incubator apparatus 1 and the isolator 2 can be facilitated. That is, the opening 12 can be made small, and the aseptic environment can be more easily maintained.

  In addition, since the rack 13 can be circulated and moved by the moving mechanism 30, many culture vessels 20 can be accommodated. In the conventional method of placing culture vessels on a fixed shelf, if the number of culture vessels that can be stored is increased, the opening of the side wall has to be enlarged. However, in the incubator apparatus 1 described above, it is necessary to enlarge the opening 12. Absent.

  That is, even if a larger number of culture vessels 20 are held in the culture chamber, the work in the isolator 2 is not complicated and the aseptic environment is not impaired.

  Moreover, since the incubator apparatus 1 can be connected as it is without modifying the loading / unloading port 5 of the isolator 2, it can be applied to various isolators. In addition, a culture vessel different from the culture vessel 20 described above can be used as long as it can be placed on the rack 13.

  In addition, since the moving mechanism 30 circulates and moves the rack 13, the circulation path is constant, and the apparatus can be simplified compared to a mechanism that moves the culture vessel from multiple directions. Since it is such a simplified device, it can be easily unitized. For example, it can be unitized by providing a support base that supports the rotating shaft 31 of the circulation mechanism 30 and can be detached from the culture chamber. Here, by providing the incubator apparatus 1 with a door from which the unit can be taken out, the circulation mechanism 30 can be taken out together with the unit to facilitate maintenance.

  In the incubator apparatus 1, the moving mechanism 30 is manually operated, but may be automatically circulated using other power. In this case, if these are circulated by the moving mechanism while the culture vessels are held, it is possible to make all the culture vessels moving on the circulation path have the same culture environment.

[Example 2]
Another embodiment of an incubator device for an isolator according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the incubator apparatus 1 ′ can accommodate more culture vessels 20 than the above-described incubator apparatus 1. The moving mechanism 40 includes two rotating bodies 41 and 42 that have a horizontal rotation axis and are spaced apart from each other in the vertical direction. Two chain bodies 43 that are spaced apart from each other and are opposed to each other are bridged between the rotating bodies 41 and 42, and a plurality of shaft bodies 44 are horizontally attached between the rotating bodies 41 and 42. A plurality of racks 13 are rotatably suspended from each of the shaft bodies 44. One or a plurality of culture vessels 20 can be placed on each rack 13.

  A coaxial bevel gear 37 is fixed to the lower rotating body 41. A drive-side bevel gear 36 that meshes with the bevel gear 37 is further provided, connected to a drive shaft 35 that can be rotated by a handle 34 provided outside the incubator apparatus 1 ′, and can be rotated by the handle 34. That is, by rotating the handle 34 manually, the rotating body 41 can be rotated, and the rack 13 on which the culture vessel 20 is placed can be circulated.

  Also in the incubator apparatus 1 ′, the circulation path of the rack 13 by the rotating bodies 41 and 42 includes a portion for positioning the rack 13 in the vicinity of the opening 12. That is, the plurality of racks 13 can be sequentially moved to the vicinity of the opening 12 by turning the handle 34.

  Similarly to the incubator apparatus 1 described above, the incubator apparatus 1 ′ can also always take out the culture container 20 at a fixed position by the circulating rack 13, so that a larger number of culture containers 20 can be placed in the culture chamber. Even if it is held, the work in the isolator 2 is not complicated, and the aseptic environment is not damaged.

  As mentioned above, although the Example by this invention and the modification based on this were demonstrated, this invention is not necessarily limited to these, Those skilled in the art will deviate from the main point of this invention, or the attached claim. Various alternative embodiments and modifications could be found without doing so.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 1 'Incubator apparatus 11 Side wall 12 Opening part 13 Rack 30, 40 Moving mechanism

Claims (2)

An incubator apparatus that holds a plurality of culture containers for culturing cells inside a culture chamber and supplies the culture containers connected to a chamber of an isolator for performing cell operations,
A side wall tightly fixed so as to close the container carry-in / out port of the isolator;
A side wall opening provided on the side wall for allowing the culture vessel to move along the loading / unloading path from the inside of the culture chamber to the chamber of the isolator through the vessel loading / unloading port, and
An open / close door that freely closes and opens the side wall opening, and a moving mechanism that moves a rack that holds one or more of the culture vessels in the vicinity of the side wall opening,
The moving mechanism circulates the rack and sequentially moves the rack to the vicinity of the side wall opening. 2. The incubator device for an isolator according to claim 1, wherein the circulating movement is performed along a path surface parallel to the side wall of the isolator.

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