Olympus Optical Company, Ltd.

Shinroku Sogi

Makoto Yoshinaga

Toshio Shinohara

Ikuo Tawara

Takayuki Aihara

Masao Izawa

Shinichiro Hattori

Yoshio Nakajima

Nagahiro Gocho

Atsuo Goto

Ichiro Sawamura

Shin-ichi Kamachi

Shin-ichiro Hattori

Daizo Shinohara

Sachiko Tachikawa

Biological substances such as tissues, cells, vaccines and viruses are cultured by the steps of: introducing a culture solution having the substances suspended therein into a closed culture vessel having a plurality of disc-like implantation plates arranged horizontally with a certain space between successive plates so that a predetermined number of the implantation plates is immersed in the culture solution; culturing the substances on the surface of the implantation plates; removing the substances from the implantation plates; suspending the removed cultured substances in a new culture solution; and successively repeating the steps of culturing, removing the cultured substances and suspending in a new culture solution while each time increasing the amount of newly supplied culture solution to progressively increase the number of implantation plates immersed in the culture solution. This process enables production of a large amount of biological substance from a small amount of seed substance by mass production in a simple operation without any contamination.

Method of culturing biological substances

A liquid feeder comprises a liquid suction and delivery pump which withdraws a liquid such as a culture solution, buffer solution, enzyme solution or the like which is retained in a liquid storage container as refrigerated or at a reduced temperature and delivers it through a flexible tube for injection into a culture vessel located within an incubator. The tube is inserted into an inner pipe and is sealingly secured thereto. The inner pipe is detachably and hermetically mounted in an outer pipe which extends through and is secured to a wall forming an environment isolating layer of the incubator. An eccentric crankpin which is driven by a motor is connected through a link with another crankpin having a greater eccentricity, the latter crankpin being driven for rotation to cause a reciprocatory rotating motion of a driven shaft about its own axis through an angular extent of less than 180.degree.. The motion of the driven shaft is effective to selectively switch the discharge port of a pair of liquid supply tubes to a position over a single vessel. The motor also drives a cam which causes a vertical motion of a drive shaft which is also angularly driven by a cam groove, the drive shaft being effective to cause a three dimensional motion of the discharge port of a single liquid supply tube for injection into a pair of vessels.

Liquid feeder for automatic culture apparatus

A liquid feeder comprises a motor which drives a cam causing a vertical motion of a drive shaft which is also angularly driven by a cam groove, the drive shaft being effective to cause a three dimensional motion of the discharge port of a single liquid supply tube for injection into a pair of vessels.

An apparatus for liquid disposal and distribution in automatic culture system comprises a first turntable carrying a plurality of culture vessels disposed in an array on a common circle thereon, and a second turntable carrying a plurality of centrifuge tubes disposed in an array on a common circle thereof. The apparatus comprises a pipette holding arm which is disposed so that its free end is angularly movable between one of the culture vessels and one of the centrifuge tubes. The free end of the arm has attached thereto a tapered cylinder which detachably receives a pipette. A fixed displacement pump is connected with the cylinder, which is movable along the path of rotation, along which are disposed a pipette holder, a pipette remover and a liquid disposal pot. The apparatus also comprises a rotary and elevating mechanism associated with the arm. In this manner, the apparatus is capable of transferring a specimen being cultured from a culture vessel to a centrifuge tube, distributing grown cells from the tube into culture vessels and disposing unnecessary liquid. In addition, the apparatus is capable of agitating a culturing solution within the culture vessel to render the cells into suspension.

Apparatus for liquid disposal and distribution in automatic culture

An apparatus for handling a centrifuge tube in an automatic culture system includes a centrifuge, above which is disposed a centrifuge tube carrying turntable which is intermittently driven through a given angular increment. Disposed at an equal spacing on and around the periphery of the turntable are centrifuge tube holder mechanisms each carrying a centrifuge tube holder. Also disposed in surrounding relationship with the turntable and at given positions where the latter comes to a stop are a plurality of processing stations including a centrifuge delivery unit which automatically delivers a centrifuge tube into the holder, a liquid disposal unit for disposing unnecessary culture solution from the centrifuge tube which has been subjected to the action of the centrifuge, a discharge unit for discharging a used centrifuge tube subsequent to the completion of the culturing operation, a transfer unit for transferring a centrifuge tube between the centrifuge holder mechanism and a holder receiver located within the centrifuge. As the turntable is incremently driven, the centrifuge tube is successively conveyed through a culture treatment and a centrifuge tube processing position.

Apparatus for handling centrifuge tubes in automatic culture system

A pipette exchange apparatus for use in a system for automatically culturing a biotissue or a cell includes a pipette mounting device for mounting a dividing and injecting means, a pipette supply device and a pipette feeding device.

Pipette exchange apparatus

An automatic culture apparatus includes an airtight casing, a culture vessel platform, a culture observation platform and a separation/distribution work platform disposed in layered configuration with suitable vertical spacings between them. A drive system for the apparatus comprises an opening formed centrally in each of the platforms; a culture vessel carrier for conveying a culture vessel to each of the platforms through the openings; a transfer arm for loading and unloading a culture vessel on or from the carrier and any one of the platforms; a first drive mechanism for operating the carrier and the transfer arm; and a second drive mechanism for driving any one of the platforms. The second drive mechanism is mounted hermetically in the casing. By operating suitable drive mechanisms to actuate the various parts, a culture vessel may be automatically transferred and distributed on each of the platforms without causing contamination in a safe and efficient manner, for automatic growth of the medium being cultured under an optimum environment.

Drive system for automatic culture apparatus

Tissues or cells of a living body, especially a human body, are automatically and successively cultivated in a nutrient solution filled culture container disposed in a gas-sealed culture box by detecting, within the culture box, a multiplication condition of the tissues or cells and culture conditions which are represented by temperature, humidity and gaseous atmosphere in the culture box and pH value of the nutrient solution, controlling the culture conditions and apparatus for subculture of the tissues or cells within the culture box in accordance with the information detected.

Method for automatically and successively cultivating tissues or cells

An apparatus for automatically cultivating tissues or cells of a living body comprises a main body the inside of which is maintained in a predetermined atmosphere by an atmosphere control means. A container containing the tissues or cells and a nutrient solution is disposed in the main body and cultivated or multiplied tissues or cells in the container divided and fed for subculture into a plurality of empty cultivating containers disposed in the main body by an operating means which performs necessary operations for subculture. The atmosphere control means and the operating means are totally controlled by an apparatus control means.

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Hachioji, Japan

Shinroku Sogi