Patent ID: 8445261

Claim:
An apparatus for incubating and determining the state of individual cells within a plurality of cells comprising: an incubating mechanism for incubating the plurality of cells, the incubating mechanism is a dynamically controlled closed environment in which the cells are grown and remains closed while it is dynamically controlled, which is maintained in a desired condition and in which each individual cell of the plurality of cells can be individually examined over time while the environment is dynamically controlled and maintained in the desired condition, the incubating mechanism including an environment controlling mechanism for dynamically controlling the closed environment of the incubating mechanism; and an imaging mechanism for automatically determining the state of said individual cell of the plurality of cells over time disposed in the incubating mechanism while the environment is dynamically controlled and maintained in the desired condition, said imaging mechanism in communication with the incubating mechanism, said imaging mechanism includes a computer for automatically determining the state of said individual cell of the plurality of cells over time.