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The Convertible contiunous culture flow cell extends in several ways Stovall's offering for real time, nondestructive, microscopic study of biofilms:

Detachable Reattachable Top

This single chamber flow cell with a detachabe/reattachable top allows an investigator to subject test samples-polymers, metal, or other-to cells injected into the chamber through the self-sealing injection port.

Large Chamber  7.7cm³

The relatively large chamber, 24mm x 40mm x 8mm deep, accommodates harvesting of significant volumes of biofilms for RNA array and protein analysis. The easy access to matured biofilm facilitates this purpose.

Two Attachment Surfaces

Two glass cover slips, one on the top of the cell and one on the bottom, provide attachment surfaces for regular or inverted microscope observation.

Glass or TCT Coated Plastic Option

Alternative TCT treated APET plastic cover slips provide better attachment surfaces for some biofilms and for cell growth and yield.

See price list for the APET and other products.

Coating the Attachment Surfaces

The detachable top allows investigators to coat the glass or plastic attachment surfaces with a variety of materials-seeded cells, proteins, polymer films, ECM-for experiments testing the response of biofilms or cells to such materials.

Bubble Trap

The triple cylinder bubble trap with air release cocks captures air bubbles released from the flowing culture medium.  Inside the cylinder a "fountain" spout directs the flow of liquid upward for better release of air bubbles. The air release cocks allow the investigator to control the amount of air captured & govern the pressure on the passing liquid to help mitigate peristaltic pulsation.

Self Sealing Injection Port

The self sealing injection port facilitates initial inoculation of the flow cell chamber and any additional injections an investigator wishes to add to the growth chamber in the course of an experiment.

Transmission Light and Confocal Microscopy

As with other Stovall flow cell products, The Convertible Flow Cell can be used with traditional transmission light microscopes to follow biofilm development. However, as the biofilm thickness increases, it becomes more difficult to obtain good images due to the contribution from the unfocused part of the viewing field. The scanning confocal laser microscope solves this problem by scanning several planes interspersed by short distances, thus reconstructing virtual three-dimensional images of the biofilm.

Two Configurations, Four Products, Gamma Irradiated

The Convertible Flow Cell is offered in two different configurations:

1. The Convertible Flow Cell by itself (CFCAS0003, CFCAS0004)
2. An assembled apparatus (CFCAS0001, CFCAS0002) consisting of the Convertible Flow Cell, connective tubing, pinch clamps to control innoculent movement, write-on flags to record injections, and a luer connector which can be unlocked to collect effluent for analysis. Each configuration is packaged in a sealed polybag and sterilized by gamma irradiation.

Both Configurations are gamma irradiated and designed for a single use which eliminates the possibility of carryover from one experiment to the next, and eliminates time consuming sterilization methods which either require equipment not easily accessible to most researchers (ethylene oxide chambers), or are, in fact, disinfection methods (hypochorite).

Elements of the Continuous Flow Cell System

As illustrated below, the assembled Convertible Fow Cell system consists of the following:

• Write-on flags to record injections, etc.
• The effluent tubing is interrupted by a luer connector which can be unlocked for collection and annalysis of effluent from the biofilm chamber . The coiled excess of tubing is provided to allow placement of the flow cell on a microscope platform without disturbing the flow of medium to the growth chamber.
• A single outlet junction box disperses medium to sturdy pump tubing which locates in the peristaltic pump cassettes.
• A triple cylinder bubble trap with air release cocks can be located immediately after the peristaltic pump. One bubble trap will accommodate three Convertible, single chamber flow cells.
  The bubble trap (ACCFL0002) is purchased separately and integrated into this flow cell system. It is not included in the assembled Convertible Flow Cell Package.
• Three feet of PVC tubing connects the bubble trap to the single chamber Convertible Flow Cell. The chamber measures 24 mm x 40 mm x 8mm.
• Pinch clamp to control innoculant movement or to control back-flow when sampling effluent.
• The single chamber of the Convertible Flow Cell is covered with a #1 glass or TCT coated APET plastic cover slip, attached to the flow cell with a UV cured acrylic adhesive. The top of the flow cell  can be detached for access to the bacteria for further analysis. The flanges at each end of a flow cell provide attachments for the microscope platform.
• The PVC tubing takes the effluent to another single outlet junction box and subsequently to a waste container.