COVID-19 UPDATE

 

For Customers, Users and Partners.

A Message from Okolab CEO

In light of the current global COVID-19 circumstances, we want to reassure you that at Okolab we have been taking preemptive measures since the beginning of 2020 in preparation for the emergency. Here is the Okolab CEO message for our customers and business partners.

Cleaning recommendations for Okolab products

How to sanitize microscope incubators, thermal plates and gas mixers.

 

 

 

 

Cleaning recommendations for Okolab products

 How to sanitize microscope incubators, thermal plates and gas mixers

 

In the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control guidance for environmental cleaning in non-healthcare facilities, it is reported that a solution with a 70% concentration of ethyl alcohol is effective against two coronaviruses types (mouse hepatitis virus and transmissible gastroenteritis virus) when it is applied for one minute on the surfaces. These guidelines are in line with standard OKOLAB cleaning recommendations.

Here is a brief reminder for general cleaning recommendations of OKOLAB products:

  • Touch Screen Units (i.e. OKO-TOUCH, LEO,…): this is exposed to a high contamination risk as it is touched several times during daily operation. Dampen a soft microfiber cloth with 70% ethyl alcohol solution and clean the treated surface for one minute. If desired, the device can be covered with a plastic film which should be replaced or cleaned after every usage. Always wear disposable gloves when handling it.

 

  • Top Stage chambers, adapters and holders: internal and external surfaces can be cleaned as follows:
    • Turn the device off and unplug all connecting cables.
    • Dampen a soft microfiber cloth with 70% ethyl alcohol solution and clean the treated surface for one minute.
    • Do not pour or spray any liquid directly on the device.
    • Gently wipe any glass surfaces. Do not apply strong force to the surface of the glass because it can be damaged.
    • Keep acid solvents away from the device. They might cause corrosion and discoloration.
    • Do not use a compressed air gun.

 

  • Controller Box: external surfaces can be cleaned like reported as follows:
    • Turn the device off and unplug all power cables.
    • Dampen a soft microfiber cloth with 70% ethyl alcohol solution and clean the treated surface for one minute.
    • Do not pour or spray any liquid directly on the device.
    • Keep acid solvents away from the device. They might cause corrosion and discoloration.

 

  • Tubings: can be cleaned by using 70% ethyl alcohol solution and treating surfaces for one minute. Remember to shut the gas flow off before cleaning them.

 

  • Humidity Bottle (for HM-ACTIVE or UNO): could be mostly exposed to algae and fungi formation due to the presence of warm water. It is recommended that users empty the Humidity Bottle once per week, and to clean both the glass and metal parts by using 70% ethyl alcohol solution with a one minute application time. Before refilling the bottle, it is important to flush excess alcohol by using distilled water.

 

  • Heated Glass Plates: Dampen a soft microfiber cloth with 70% ethyl alcohol solution and clean the treated surface for one minute. Void getting liquid seep into the small gap between glass and metal frame. Gently wipe the glass, do not apply strong force to the surface of the glass because it can be damaged. Keep acid solvents away from the chamber. They might cause corrosion and discoloration.

 

  • Heated Metal Plates: : Damp a soft microfiber cloth with 70% ethyl alcohol solution and clean the treated surface for one minute.

 

  • Transparent, black and lasersafe enclosures: external and internal enclosure walls can be cleaned with a 70% ethyl alcohol solution with a one minute application. You can also use disinfectant agents based on a quaternary ammonium compound, which is effective on microbial contamination if applied for 15 minutes.

 

  • HM–VF: Unplug and remove the permeable tube. Clean the permeable tube by using only distilled water by forcing its flow inside with a syringe. This permeable tube is sensitive to any alcohol and organic solvents, so only distilled water is allowed. Wash the rest of the humidifier with alcohol solution and remove its excess with a sterile cloth in order to avoid any contact with the permeable tube.

 

  • Objective heaters: Remove the objective heater from the microscope objective. Clean the flexible heating band with a soft microfiber cloth dampened with a 70% ethyl alcohol solution. Treat the surface for one minute. Clean the microscope objective following the cleaning instructions provided by the microscope supplier. At this point you can put the objective heater back onto the microscope objective.

 

  • Water-jacket top stage chambers: To clean the external and internal surfaces of the chamber, follow the recommendations provided for “Top Stage chambers, adapters and holders”. Furthermore, as water jacket top stage chambers feature internal water-tight channels, remove the cooling/heating tubing from the chamber. Clean the internal water-tight channels by using 70% ethyl alcohol solution by forcing its flow inside with a syringe. Next, flush the excess alcohol using distilled water in the same manner.

 

  • H101 thermostat/chiller: Empty the H101 thermostat/chiller once per week by using the purging valve on the rear panel. Clean the external and internal surfaces of the water reservoir with a soft microfiber cloth dampened with a 70% ethyl alcohol solution. Treat the surface for one minute. For cooling/heating tubing, please refer to the “Tubings” recommendations.

 

 

For more detailed information, please refer to the Cleaning paragraph of the User Manual.

Click here to download PDF

 

 

 

 

 

 

Success Stories of Custom Systems

 

Introducing a new series of posts named #challengeaccepted to thank our marvel-ous R&D team for their outstanding design, innovation, customization and engineering capabilities.

A Custom Stage Top Incubator with 0.01°C thermal stability

In this post we present the request to develop a top stage incubator able to provide a thermal stability within 0.01°C (yes, one hundredth of a centidegree) on the sample, contained into a 100 microns diameter capillary.

A Custom non-ferromagnetic Stage Top Chamber

Here is another example of a complex request that we’ve got for a customized microscope incubator, one of those who contributed to make Okolab recognized as the incubation experts.

A Custom Environmental Chamber for Pharmacological Research

Discover Okolab's expertise in crafting custom environmental chambers for advanced pharmacological studies, ensuring precise temperature and humidity control. We successfully designed a unique system with specialized heated windows for IR observations, maintaining thermal accuracy.

 

 

 

 

A message from Okolab CEO

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Custom Stage Top Incubator with 0.01°C thermal stability

 Introducing a new series of post: #challengeaccepted.

 

On occasion of the upcoming Thanksgiving day, we're glad to start a new series of posts named #challengeaccepted to thank our marvel-ous R&D team for their outstanding design, innovation, customization and engineering capabilities.

Thanks to them, over the years Okolab has been able to not only drive innovation in the field of microscope incubation for live cell imaging and ICSI applications, but also to carry out in a timely manner new demanding B2B projects and to satisfy the most challenging inquiries of customized products for end-users.

In this post we present the request to develop a top stage incubator able to provide a thermal stability within 0.01°C (yes, one hundredth of a degree) on the sample, contained into a 100 microns diameter capillary.

 

The application was to observe self-assembly of colloidal cubes induced by very small change in temperature.

The project took 3 months including manufacturing and delivery, and it involved four persons, one project manager who conceived and designed such a challenging system, one mechanical engineer for hardware design, one software engineer to implement dedicated control logics and to change readings resolution on our controllers, and one chemical engineer to test and assess performance. In addition, another person from our post-sale technical support helped the end-user to get the best from our system after the installation. 

Among other unique design and engineering features, reaching the goal has required to base the thermal control algorithm on the simultaneous monitoring and inter-communication of temperatures in three different areas of this custom system. 

This exciting request came from Dr. Janne-Mieke Meijer at Eindhoven University of Technology and the system has been sold on a Nikon confocal microscope. Many thanks to Dr. Chris Kennedy for providing the colloidal cubes' image that he captured.

 

 

 

  1. A Custom non-ferromagnetic Stage Top Chamber
  2. A Custom Environmental Chamber for Pharmacological Research

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