{videobox}DNlyvFJZXN0{/videobox}

Braincubator™ Incubation System Extends Brain Slice Lifespan

In vitro brain slice preparations are instrumental in developing understanding of the nervous system. Current lifespan of an acute brain slice is limited to approximately 6-12 hours, which reduces potential experimentation time and leads to considerable waste of neural tissue. The Braincubator™ is an incubation device - developed by researchers in the Biomedical Engineering & Neuroscience (BENS) group at MARCS Institute, University of Western Sydney (UWS), Australia - that can keep brain slices viable for research for at least 36 hours. This is done by controlling the temperature and pH of the artificial cerebral spinal fluid in which the slices are incubated, while continuously passing the fluid through a UVC filtration system. The system is capable of maintaining extremely low bacterial levels.