Cell culture cassettes and incubator

Abstract

The invention relates to cassettes for culturing cells. The invention also relates to analytical and preparative incubators for housing the cassettes. The invention also relates to methods of using the cassettes, for example, to culture cells wherein the processes of feeding and passaging cells are automated.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of operating an incubator, the method comprising:
 storing, by a computing device, parameters for a schedule of processes to apply to cell cultures in cassettes;   monitoring, by the computing device, data about environmental conditions within the cassettes;   matching, by the computing device, received data about the environment conditions with at least one parameter for a process on the schedule; and   applying, by the computing device, the process to the cell culture within the cassettes.   
     
     
         2 . The method of operating the incubator of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the computing device, the parameters from a user interface of the incubator.   
     
     
         3 . The method of operating the incubator of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the computing device, the parameters from a remote server.   
     
     
         4 . The method of operating the incubator of  claim 1 , wherein monitoring the data about the environment conditions comprises:
 monitoring, by the computing device, data received through a port coupled to a chassis of the incubator.   
     
     
         5 . The method of operating the incubator of  claim 1 , wherein applying the process to the cell culture within the cassettes comprises:
 passaging, by a fluidic manifold, the cell culture in a cassette.   
     
     
         6 . The method of operating the incubator of  claim 1 , wherein applying the process to the cell culture within the cassettes comprises:
 flowing, by a fluidic manifold, a media into a cassette.   
     
     
         7 . The method of operating the incubator of  claim 1 , wherein applying the process to the cell culture within the cassettes comprises:
 extracting, by a fluidic manifold, the cell culture from a cassette.