An artefact of the relatively high operational temperature of 37 °C was that the DMEM medium, a salt solution used for supporting the growth of the living cells, evaporated rather fast. To replenish the evaporated water from the medium, a Bronkhorst μ-FLOW mass flow controller for liquids was used to supply a very stable flow of deionised water. Combined with a local BRIGHT controller with PiPS (Plug-in Power Supply), the μ-FLOW device supplied a controlled water flow between 0.5 and 9.6 microliter per minute.
Empirically, the Netherlands Cancer Institute found that a value of 1.3 μl/min completely compensated for evaporation. Since then, they have been capable of keeping cells alive for weeks while observing them by microscopy. Using this configuration, the relative humidity was kept below 60%, which was necessary to avoid condensation that might damage the sensitive electronics in the setup.
Read more about how flow control can help cancer research:
BLOG: Cancer research