Bigneat laminar flow cabinets are helping pupils at Writhlington School learn the aseptic techniques required for orchid-seed sowing, a skill that may help them in a range of science-related careers.
The Writhlington School Orchid Project has involved hundreds of students over a period of 20 years.
Led from the start by teacher Simon Pugh-Jones, the project grew out of the after-school Gardening Club for students, making use of a set of old greenhouses on the school property.
After a collection of orchids was donated to the club, Pugh-Jones was able to instil his students with his own passion for these plants.
Exhibiting and selling plants at horticultural and local shows, the club started to specialise in growing orchids and around ten years ago it took the next step in orchid propagation, growing from seed.
In the wild, orchid seeds rely on the presence of a fungal partner for them to germinate.
In cultivation, identifying and inoculating seed with the correct fungus is extremely difficult, especially in normal greenhouse conditions, so in vitro techniques are used.
Vast quantities of healthy orchid seedlings can be generated from a single seed pod.
To do this, orchid seeds must be sown in sterile air provided within a laminar flow hood, on a sterilised nutrient agar medium that supplies the seeds with the sugars, minerals and other nutrients they need.
The 'mother flasks' of seeds are placed under rows of fluorescent lighting tubes in the school's growth room.
Once the seeds have germinated and developed into small round bodies (protocorms), they can be plated out onto fresh media.
As the seedlings grow and require more space and fresh nutrients, they are reflasked into new jars of media and replaced under the lights in the growth room in between transfers.
Once large enough, the seedlings can be taken out of their sterile jars and media, the sugar-rich agar washed off the roots, and they can be potted up to grow.
Writhlington School chose laminar flow cabinets from Bigneat.
Bigneat laminar-flow cabinets provide a high degree of protection for process or experimental apparatus in a laboratory.
Many critical applications in the biological, medical, pharmaceutical, scientific and electronics fields demand an ultra-clean work environment that is free from biological and particulate contamination.
The fan that draws air though HEPA filters (BS EN1822 H14 grade) provides ultra-quiet operation and a low vibration level.
These cabinets are suitable for direct location onto the laboratory bench or mounted on a support frame or cupboard.
Cabinets can be supplied with a variety of optional accessories, including germicidal UV lamps.
