title: Novel materials enable a low-cost temperature-light gradient incubator for microbial studies.
abstract: We describe the construction of temperature-light gradient incubator with a novel material: a thermally-conductive graphite foam that is lightweight, chemically resistant, economically competitive with metal, and much cheaper to fabricate. We combined this material with a variable-intensity LED light array to construct a low-cost light-temperature gradient incubator, and demonstrate its use for studies of microbial growth, enrichment, and isolation.
authors.affiliation: Dept. Biological Sciences, California State Univ. Chico, Chico, CA-95929-0515, USA. Electronic address: gwolfe2@csuchico.edu.
authors.forename: Gordon V
authors.initials: GV
authors.lastname: Wolfe
authors.affiliation: Dept. Biological Sciences, California State Univ. Chico, Chico, CA-95929-0515, USA.
authors.forename: William H H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Reeder
authors.affiliation: Dept. Biological Sciences, California State Univ. Chico, Chico, CA-95929-0515, USA.
authors.forename: Bryan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ervin
mesh_terms: D056890:Eukaryota / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D006108:Graphite / Q000737:chemistry / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards; D007185:Incubators / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D008027:Light; D008829:Microbiology / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D006108:Graphite
keywords: Extremophiles; Fungi; Gradient incubator; Microbes; Protists