The HERAsafe from Kendro is a universal laminar flow safety cabinet for basic and clinical research laboratories. It is designed to provide a sterile work area for any kind of cell culture activities and can even be used in P-3 facilities. An active air circulation system prevents the contamination of the working area with outside air. Before entering the work chamber, the air is decontaminated of any biological agents through the multi-filter system. In addition, the front window is motor driven, helping to prevent contamination and making it easy to adjust. The working surface of the cabinet is made from stainless steel, which greatly facilitates cleaning and sterility maintenance. The internal chamber is equipped with water, gas outlets and power outlets. There are also UV-light lamps for surface sterilization. All of these functions can be easily operated from a practically designed control panel located on the front of the cabinet. The HERAsafe is available in several different dimensions, which facilitates the optimal usage of laboratory space.
The majority of research projects in our lab are related to the high-throughput functional analysis of mammalian cDNAs using in vitrosystems. Hence, we rely heavily on the cell culture facility in our Department. Our laboratory has a lot of experience with safety cabinets from Kendro. In general, these devices have proved to be very reliable and this is also the case for the HERAsafe. We have been working with the HERAsafe for several years and have never encountered a major technical problem. One of the features that I especially like is the motorized front window that protects researchers from aerosol contamination and cells from external contamination. The location of the control panel is also very convenient, since you can reach all the buttons while sitting. However, the most outstanding feature of this cabinet is its technical long-term reliability in terms of the maintenance of sterile conditions. This is simply a result of the product quality, which allows you to fully concentrate on your research instead of spending days or sometimes weeks waiting for technical service.
One of the few things one has to remember using this cabinet is that the air filters must be periodically replaced. These filter then have to be disposed of as bio-hazardous material. Also, I would not recommend spending additional money for arm-support, which have been designed to avoid unintended coverage of the ventilation slits located at the front of the bench.
In summary, I would recommend that any researcher planning on setting up a cell culture laboratory to consider the HERAsafe cabinet as part of the basic infrastructure. Even though it is an expensive piece of equipment, it is an essential part of the lab.
Michal Janitz, M.D.
Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics
Berlin, Germany