Cellbox Solutions is a young technology company situated in Northern Germany that focuses on innovative logistic solutions for the global BioMed industry. The product, a portable CO2 incubator provides a safe environment for the transport of living cells and biological structures under laboratory conditions. The initial idea to develop a portable CO2 incubator was born at the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Marine Biotechnology and Cell Technology (EMB) in Lübeck. Back then, the scientists were facing a well-known challenge: they had to transport slices of cardiomyocytes and were in need of a suitable transport device that would allow them to ship the cells under optimal conditions, e.g. at 37° and 5% CO2. A few years went by before Prof. Dr. Kathrin Adlkofer joined the Fraunhofer EMB and quickly realised the potential impact that such an incubator could have on
global cell logistics. A team of dedicated engineers and biologists was assembled and a new development project was created; from idea to marketable product – Cellbox® . Within 18 months the first prototype of the Cellbox® was developed and ready for intensive trials. Today, the focus is on our Cellbox customers. We aim to find solutions to each and every cell transport challenge. We put strong emphasis on honest feedback, to continuously improve and provide the best customer experience possible. The development and assembly of our products were carried out in close collaboration with the Fraunhofer EMB and financially supported by the European Union – European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Federal Government and Land Schleswig-Holstein.

To ensure the ideal conditions for any transport, we provide two device types – the Cellbox® ground CD and the Cellbox® flight CDI. These two boxes are near-identical, except for the carbon dioxide source and conditioning system – the CD uses disposable CO2 cartridges and the CDI dry-ice.
Due to international flight regulations, open gas canisters are not permitted on an aircraft. That’s why we had to find a solution for providing carbon dioxide without actually using a gas cartridge. Dry-ice naturally sublimates into gaseuos CO2 – that in turn sustains the passengers in the Cellbox®. The source of CO2 does however impact the operation period of the incubator. The Cellbox® ground CD can be operated for more than 72 hours (at 5% CO2), while the Cellbox® flight CDI would need a dry ice refill after 24 hours. In addition to that there are only two more small differences between the models: Firstly, the Cellbox® flight CDI weighs one kilogram less than the ground CD and secondly, while both can be fitted with a GPS, only the ground variant can be tracked at all times.