Okolab equipment

About Okolab

Okolab is an Italian manufacturer of live cell imaging and laboratory environmental control equipment, founded in 2003 and based in Pozzuoli, Italy. The company was started by scientists with expertise in biomedical research and microscopy, specifically to design environmental control systems for keeping living cells alive under a microscope. Its equipment regulates temperature, carbon dioxide and humidity for samples during imaging, and the catalogue spans stagetop incubators, cage incubators, gas controllers, humidity controllers, thermal plates and objective heaters, along with environmental control systems for IVF. The best-known product lines are the Bold Line Cage Incubator (H201), the Bold Line Stagetop Incubator (H301 / BL3), the UNO-PLUS Stagetop Incubator, the OKO-Light Time-Lapse Station and the Leo 2.0 Laboratory Meter. The common thread across all of it is control at the point of observation rather than in a separate box. On Questpair, used Okolab equipment is offered by verified suppliers and distributors.

Okolab product lines and what each one does

The Bold Line range is the backbone of the catalogue and comes in two architectures. The H201 cage incubator encloses the microscope frame itself, building a conditioned environment around the whole instrument, which suits experiments that run over days and need thermal stability across the full optical path. The H301 and BL3 stagetop incubators take the smaller-footprint route, conditioning a chamber that sits directly on the stage. The UNO-PLUS is a single-chamber stagetop unit aimed at simpler setups. These incubators do live cell imaging: holding mammalian cells at 37 degrees under controlled CO2 and humidity so they stay viable while a camera records them.

Around the incubators sit the separate modules. Gas controllers set and hold the CO2 (and where needed O2) concentration, humidity controllers prevent the medium from evaporating during long runs, thermal plates provide direct heating, and objective heaters warm the lens so an oil- or water-immersion objective in contact with the dish does not act as a heat sink. The OKO-Light Time-Lapse Station is built specifically for time-lapse microscopy, and the Leo 2.0 Laboratory Meter reads back environmental conditions. The IVF environmental control systems apply the same temperature and gas discipline to assisted-reproduction workflows, a molecular diagnostics and clinical application area where embryo handling demands tight, verified conditions.

This equipment is squarely life sciences hardware. It supports cell culture and cell imaging in the broad sense, and it is the enabling layer for long-term live imaging studies in molecular biology, where researchers track protein localisation, cell division or migration over hours. The stagetop and cage incubators are also used for applications in developmental biology and, through the IVF line, in reproductive medicine. A lab setting up extended fluorescence or brightfield time-lapse microscopy needs exactly this class of temperature, CO2 and humidity control to keep cells dividing normally under the objective.

What is listed on Questpair?

The Okolab equipment on Questpair comes from 1 verified supplier and spans multiple listings. 100 percent of the units are used. Prices run from EUR 963 to EUR 4.095, averaging around EUR 3.135, a spread that reflects the difference between a single module and a full Bold Line assembly. Because the Bold Line design is modular, a listing may be a controller, a chamber, a thermal plate or a combination, so matching what is offered to the microscope and cell type at hand is the main thing to check. Used and refurbished units are priced below new.

For documentation, a buyer can contact Questpair and specialists respond within one hour. Parts can be sourced via Questpair, and where a warranty is needed it is arranged in consultation for the specific listing. This is a specialist catalogue rather than a broad one, and reading each listing against the intended imaging setup is the practical first step.

Questpair review of Okolab

Our take based on listings data and supplier feedback

Okolab occupies a narrow, well-defined position in microscopy: keeping a living sample alive and stable while it is imaged. That problem sits at the intersection of optics and cell biology, and the company's whole catalogue is shaped around it. The three characteristics worth weighing before buying are the stage-level environmental control, the modular architecture of the Bold Line systems, and what the used market on Questpair actually offers.

The first characteristic is the focus on control at the point of imaging. A conventional CO2 incubator conditions a whole box; the sample has to be removed from it to sit under the objective, which breaks temperature and gas equilibrium. Okolab's stagetop incubators (the H301 and BL3 Bold Line units, and the single-chamber UNO-PLUS) place a small conditioned chamber directly on the microscope stage, so the sample experiences a stable 37 degrees, controlled humidity and a set CO2 concentration throughout a time-lapse run. The cage incubators, such as the H201 Bold Line, take the opposite approach and enclose the microscope body itself. Which one a lab needs depends on the length of the experiment and the optics involved, and Okolab builds both, which is why its name recurs in long-term live imaging and time-lapse microscopy work.

The second characteristic is modularity. The Bold Line range separates the digital controller from the chamber and from the individual environmental modules. A lab can pair a gas controller with a humidity controller, a thermal plate and an objective heater, and configure that combination for a given microscope and a given cell type. This matters for a used buyer in particular: a listing may carry the controller without every module, or a chamber sized for one stage format, so the configuration has to be checked against the microscope it will serve. The modular design that makes the systems flexible also makes the second-hand market heterogeneous, and a buyer reads each listing closely rather than assuming a standard package.

The third characteristic is the state of the Questpair catalogue. 100 percent of the Okolab listings are used. Prices run from EUR 963 to EUR 4.095, with an average around EUR 3.135, which reflects the spread between a single module and a complete Bold Line assembly. Used and refurbished units are listed below new pricing for comparable builds. Where warranty matters, it is arranged in consultation for the specific listing rather than set centrally, so a buyer weighing a used chamber against a new one points to the individual listing for terms. For a lab already committed to a microscope platform, the used route is a way to add environmental control without the full new-system outlay, provided the modules on offer match the imaging setup. This is a specialist product class rather than a general lab purchase, and the catalogue reads accordingly: fewer units, most of them configured for a particular imaging application.

**Environmental control built for the microscope stage**

Okolab specialises in stagetop and cage incubators that hold temperature, CO2 and humidity stable directly on a microscope, so live cell imaging runs for hours or days without the sample leaving the optical path.

**Modular systems that mix and match**

The Bold Line range separates the controller from the chamber, which lets a lab combine a gas controller, humidity module, thermal plate and objective heater to fit a specific microscope and experiment rather than buying one fixed configuration.

**A used catalogue priced below new**

On Questpair, 100 percent of the listed Okolab equipment is used. Prices run from EUR 963 to EUR 4.095, below new-unit pricing for comparable configurations.