EP-4739765-A1 - APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLABLE HANDLING OF CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL MATERIAL

EP4739765A1EP 4739765 A1EP4739765 A1EP 4739765A1EP-4739765-A1

Abstract

Disclosed is a system for maintaining biological and/or chemical material under controlled environmental conditions, comprising an air-tight enclosure system having at least one gas inlet and at least one gas outlet; a gas circulation system, for delivering gas/air or mixture thereof to and from the enclosure system via the at least one gas inlet and the at least one gas outlet; a motion control system that provides the enclosure system with controlled mechanical pitch-roll orbital wave motion generated by cyclical tilting movement; and a heating system for controlling temperature within the system. Also disclosed is an apparatus for providing mixing of reactants within an enclosure, comprising a foundation for receiving one or more enclosure for holding liquid for chemical reactants and/or biological materials and a motorized component that is connected to the lower surface of the foundation, the motorized component having means to tilt the foundation with respect to a horizontal plane; and drive the foundation in a pitch-roll fashion with respect to the plane of the foundation, while preventing a yaw motion of the foundation in the plane of the foundation.

Inventors

RÖNN, Roger Emanuel

Assignees

Sorbus Biomedical AB

Dates

Publication Date: 20260513
Application Date: 20240701

Claims (15)

1. A system for maintaining biological and/or chemical material under controlled environmental conditions, the system comprising: i. an air-tight enclosure system, the enclosure system having at least one gas inlet and at least one gas outlet and at least one transparent surface for enabling observation of material within the system; ii. a gas circulation system that delivers gas/air or mixture thereof to and from the enclosure system via the at least one gas inlet and the at least one gas outlet; ill. a motion control system that drives the enclosure system, and any material contained therein along a controlled mechanical pitch-roll orbital wave motion paththat results in cyclical tilting movement; iv. a heating system that supplies heat the enclosure system and/or the gas circulation system in a controlled manner, thereby controlling temperature within the system.
2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a gas reservoir system, for supplying the gas circulation system with one or more gases in a controlled manner, wherein the gas reservoir system optionally comprises at least one air containment vessel for providing a gas mixture of humidified air.
3. The system of the preceding claim 2, wherein the gas reservoir system further contains one or more of: sensors for determining concentration of one or more gases; ports and valves for injection of pressurized gas; inlet and outlet ports for delivering gas mixtures to and from the gas reservoir system; and one or more heated humidifier.
4. The system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the enclosure system comprises: i. an enclosure bottom that is adapted to receive standardized laboratory incubation vessels; ii. an enclosure lid that is adapted to encircle and meet an upper surface of the standardized laboratory incubation vessel so as to provide an air-tight seal between the enclosure lid and the incubation vessel.
5. The system of the preceding claim 4, wherein the enclosure bottom and/or the enclosure lid are transparent to visible light, so that material within the enclosure can be observed during operation of the system.
6. The system of any one of the preceding two claims 4-5, wherein the enclosure lid comprises at least one air-tight sensor port for enabling the introduction of one or more sensors to measure one or more parameter within the enclosure selected from gas concentration, temperature, pH, pressure and osmolarity.
7. The system of any of the preceding three claims 4-6, wherein the enclosure lid further comprises one or more self-sealing ports, for enabling the insertion or extraction of material into or from the incubation vessel without exposing the interior of the enclosure to external air.
8. The system of any one of the preceding claims 1-7, wherein the circulation system comprises one or more pumps, for moving air or gas mixture from the gas reservoir system to the enclosure system.
9. The system of any one of the previous claims, wherein the heating system comprises at least one of: i. at least one heating plate that is adapted to meet an enclosure bottom, thereby providing laboratory incubation vessels within the enclosure with controlled heating; ii. heating means that is integrated into the enclosure lid, for providing the enclosure with controlled heating and preventing condensation on the inner surface of the enclosure lid; ill. heating means that is integrated into the air containment vessel of the reservoir system; iv. heating means that is integrated into circulation filters and/or fittings for the circulation filters; and v. heating means that is integrated into tubing or air/gas passageways in the circulation system.
10. An apparatus for providing mixing of liquid used with chemical reactants or biological culture within an enclosure through a pitch-roll orbital wave motion resulting in controlled cyclical tilting movement, the apparatus comprising: i. at least one foundation having a lower surface and an upper surface for receiving one or more enclosure for holding liquid for chemical reactants and/or biological materials; ii. a motorized component that is connected to the lower surface of the foundation, the motorized component having means to: i. tilt the foundation with respect to a horizontal plane; and ii. drive the foundation in a pitch-roll fashion with respect to the plane of the foundation along a cyclical tilting path, while preventing a yaw motion of the foundation in the plane of the foundation, whereby the motorized component when in use drives the foundation along a pitchroll orbital path so that any enclosure positioned on the upper surface of the foundation follows the same motion.
11. An apparatus for providing mixing of liquid chemical reactants or biological culture within an enclosure through a pitch-roll orbital wave motion that results in controlled cyclical tilting movement, the apparatus comprising: i. a base component, comprising a central shaft oriented in a z-direction perpendicular to a flat resting surface and a drive train for providing rotational movement around the central shaft; ii. a rotational component, the rotational component being operatively connected to the drive train so that the rotational component can rotate around the z-axis, the rotational component having an angled upper portion so as to form an angled wedge when viewed from the side, the upper portion following the rotational movement around the central shaft as the rotational component rotates; ill. a foundation, the foundation having a lower surface that meets the angled upper portion of the cylindrical rotational component and an upper surface, for receiving one or more enclosure comprising chemical reactants and/or biological liquids; iv. an arrangement of bearings connecting the foundation to the rotational component so that the bearings form an interface between the rotational component and the lower surface of the foundation; and v. a linker component that is operatively connected to the platform, the linker component being at least partially deformable in the z-direction to facilitate pitch-roll motion of the foundation while preventing simultaneous yaw motion of the foundation ; wherein when the apparatus is in operation the foundation follows the repositioning of the rotational component without itself rotating around the central shaft, thereby resulting in a pitch roll orbital wave motion of the foundation and any enclosure placed on the foundation.
12. The apparatus of the previous claim, wherein the bearings are arranged on the cylindrical rotational component at or near the upper end thereof, the bearings being aligned with the angled wedge of the upper end.
13. The apparatus of any one of the previous claims 11-12, wherein the linker component comprises an elastic disk with an aperture for connecting to the central shaft, thereby forming a connection between the central shaft and the foundation, the linker providing flexibility to movement of the foundation in terms of pitch and roll, while preventing yaw movement.
14. A method of controlled mixing of liquid chemical reactants or biological culture, the method comprising: providing an air-tight enclosure, wherein the enclosure is adapted to be disposed on a solid foundation that is connected to a mechanical assembly for controlled movement of the foundation, and wherein the air-tight enclosure has one or more gas connections for receiving one or more gas mixture without exposing the interior of the enclosure to external air; disposing liquid chemical and/or biological material into the air-tight enclosure; controlling the composition of gas within the enclosure by supplying gas through the one or more gas connection; subjecting the enclosure to a pitch-roll movement without rotating the enclosure, thereby facilitating mixing of chemical and/or biological components within the enclosure while minimizing physical force needed to facilitate mixing.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein the method is carried out using a system according to any one of claims 1-9. T1

Description

APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLABLE HANDLING OF CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL MATERIAL FIELD The disclosure relates to an apparatus for controllable handling of chemical and/or biological material, in particular in liquid form or in a liquid solution. The disclosure further relates to a method for the mixing and/or homogenization of liquids in relation to chemical and/or biological material. INTRODUCTION The handling of chemical reagents in a laboratory environment typically involves use of equipment that is intended to hold the reagents and maintain or adjust conditions over time, for example by providing a supply or stream of reagents, air and/or gas mixtures to facilitate desired experimental conditions. The handling may also include control of physiochemical parameters such as light exposure, gas pressure and temperature. In some cases, a mixing action, typically mechanical, is applied to homogenize and/or mix reagents that may be provided within an open or closed environments (e.g., within closed or open reaction vessels). The chemical reagents may alternatively or additionally include biological material, such as cell culture. Current methods for cultivating cells in a lab environment (in vitro) relies on standardized methods (protocols) of handling the cells and use of traditional types of equipment. These types of equipment include workbenches intended to protect cell cultures during handling from microbial contamination, and cell incubators in which cell cultures, contained in standardized plasticware, are kept and grown at appropriate temperature, humidity, and pH (which is accommodated by control of the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2), hence the term CO2 incubator). Current cell culture methods furthermore frequently do not involve any active mixing of cells and their surrounding media, which inherently may result in a non-homogeneous environmental conditions within the cell culture. SUMMARY The present invention seeks to overcome, eliminate and/or ameliorate one or more of the drawback and deficiencies of the prior art, for example those described in the above. The invention relates to a system, apparatus and method for providing chemical and biological materials with a highly controllable environment that, in addition of shielding the materials kept within from external conditions, serves to provide control in terms such as, but not limited to, oxygen levels, rate of oxidation, carbon dioxide levels, pH in liquids, fluid dynamics, diffusion gradients, shear force, pressure conditions, and temperature conditions. The material can be kept in any convenient laboratory vessel, such as standardized laboratory plasticware. In an aspect, there is provided a system for maintaining biological and/or chemical material under controlled environmental conditions. The system comprises: (i) an air-tight enclosure system, the enclosure system having at least one gas inlet and at least one gas outlet and at least one transparent surface for enabling observation of material within the system; (ii) a gas circulation system that delivers gas/air or mixture thereof to and from the enclosure system via the at least one gas inlet and the at least one gas outlet; (iii) a motion control system that drives the enclosure system, and any material contained therein along a controlled mechanical pitch-roll orbital wave motion path that results in cyclical tilting movement; (iv) a heating system that supplies heat the enclosure system and/or the gas circulation system in a controlled manner, thereby controlling temperature within the system. Thus, the enclosure system enables observation, access, handling and/or monitoring of the biological and/or chemical material without exposing the material to external air. The gas or air can comprise any single gas or mixture of gases, or a mixture of gases and air. The gas may for example be oxygen, nitrogen, argon or carbon dioxide, or any mixture thereof. The system can furthermore comprise a gas reservoir system, for supplying the gas circulation system with one or more gases in a controlled manner. The gas reservoir system can comprise one or more gas containment vessel that can be provided gas for example from one or more gas tank or other gas supply that is connected to the system by one or more gas supply lines. The gas supply may for example comprise at least one gas containment vessel for providing a gas and/or air mixture containing humidified air. The gas reservoir system may for this purpose comprise one or more humidifier, such as a heated humidifier. Such a humidifier can comprise a volume of water that, when heated, provides the gas reservoir system with humidified air. The gas and/or air mixture can be supplied at any suitable pressure, such as pressure in the range of 0-300 kPa. By way of example the gas and/or air mixture can comprise carbon dioxide gas from a supply at 0-300 kPa and/or nitrogen from a supply that is at 0-300 kPa. The gas circulation can provide