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Biology vocabulary · Laboratory Work and Techniques

Incubate

Meaning in biology, with examples

/ˈɪŋkjəbeɪt/verbCommon term

In biology, incubate means: To keep samples, cultures or eggs at a controlled temperature, and sometimes humidity or gas level, for a set time so that growth or a reaction can take place.

In Turkish: inkübe etmek, inkübasyona bırakmak

How it is used

Protocols say 'incubate at 37 °C for 24 hours' or 'incubate on ice'. The device is an incubator; mammalian cells are kept in a CO2 incubator. In medicine, the incubation period is the time between infection and the first symptoms.

Example sentences

  1. Incubate the plates at 37 °C overnight.

  2. The enzyme and substrate were incubated together for 30 minutes before the reaction was stopped.

Common collocations

  • incubate at 37 °C
  • incubate overnight
  • incubation period
  • CO2 incubator
  • incubate on ice
  • cultureA population of microorganisms or cells grown in the lab in a nutrient medium under controlled conditions. As a verb, it means to grow them in this way.
  • petri dishA shallow, round, clear dish with a lid, used to grow microorganisms or cells on a layer of agar or another culture medium.
  • aseptic techniqueA set of working methods that stop unwanted microorganisms from contaminating cultures, samples, equipment or the person doing the work.
  • enzymeA molecule, usually a protein, that speeds up a chemical reaction in a living thing without being used up. Each enzyme acts on a specific substrate at its active site.

More terms: Laboratory Work and Techniques

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