An incubator is a core piece of laboratory equipment. It has a wide range of uses, but it is commonly used to grow microbiological cells. It does this by creating the perfect growing conditions. Users are usually able to adjust the temperature, humidity and CO2 inside the chamber, thus creating optimum conditions for growing certain cells.

Below are just some examples of when an incubator may be used:

• Growing and storing bacterial cultures
• Incubating antibodies
• Cell and tissue culture
• Haematological studies
• Pharmaceutical work
• Food analysis
• Breeding of insects
• Hatching of eggs
• Controlled sample storage
• Growing protein crystals
• Reproduction of microorganisms such as yeast or fungi

It is worth remembering that the uses of an incubator are huge and certainly not limited to the above list of applications.