Multi-well, In-Incubator Imaging Platform for Biological Imaging.

Typical approaches to biological imaging consist of a tissue growing environment (e.g., incubator) where multiple samples are cultured simultaneously, and a shared central microscopy unit, where images are generated one sample at a time. In the majority of cases, the samples are manually relocated from the incubator to the central microscopy unit. This technique has one major advantage: the ability to use a single high-cost microscope. However, there are several disadvantages: Firstly, moving the biological samples outside of the incubator unit can contaminate them. Secondly, the specific growing conditions (e.g., temperature, humidity, CO2 concentration) cannot be maintained without additional equipment during the imaging period. Thirdly, this approach cannot monitor transient phenomena (e.g., continuous monitoring of development). We propose a multi-well, in-incubator imaging platform that eliminates these shortcomings and can be used for bright-field and fluorescent microscopy. This system is mostly 3-D printed, with a cost coming in under $100 per imaging unit (e.g., tissue growing well). The system is Wi-Fi enabled, allowing remote control (of imaging frequency focus adjustment, lighting, and fluorescent imaging, etc.) without removing the system from the incubator. The images are stored in the cloud allowing for off-site analysis. The imaging system is designed for the scalability of hardware and accounts for larger volumes of data output, storage, and processing.