L2M – Development of a novel cell culture incubator for optimized oxygen control

Cell culture is a critical tool for drug discover and cancer research, allowing scientists to study cells in a controlled environment before testing in animals and humans. However, a major flaw in traditional cell culture is that oxygen levels do not accurately replicate those found in the body. Cells in culture are typically exposed to oxygen levels up to 10 times higher than they would experience in some organs; this is particularly concerning for cancer cell culture as tumours are typically exposed to extremely low oxygen levels. These very high levels can lead to misleading experimental results.
To address this, some cell culturists use incubators that regulate oxygen in the air surrounding the cells. However, this method overlooks the oxygen that cells consume to stay alive. Cells are surrounded by a nutrient rich liquid medium that gets depleted of oxygen faster than it can be replenished from the air. This depletion varies widely depending on a number of factors, reducing the reliability of research findings.
Our novel incubator solves this problem by directly measuring and adjusting oxygen levels in the culture medium, rather than the air. It continuously adapts as cells grow and die to ensure stable oxygen levels intended for an experiment. By making cell culture more relevant to human systems, our technology has the potential to accelerate the discovery of effective therapies and pharmaceuticals and limit waste of resources by increasing the likelihood of promising treatments succeeding in later phases of testing.

Faculty Supervisor:

Jeff Stuart

Student:

Partner:

DMZ Ventures Inc

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Biotechnology; Health and Related Sciences & Technology

University:

Brock University

Program: