We are proud to announce that we have completed our 50th North American autoclave installation, and pleased to have done so at historic Bethany College in Bethany, West Virginia—an institution distinguished by its 174-year commitment to critical thinking and collaborative learning.

Bethany College places a high premium on close collaboration between students and faculty. Unfortunately, they were saddled with an aging manually operated autoclave that, for safety reasons, students were unable to use. The college plans to incorporate hands-on autoclave operation into its regular curriculum, so that students could get a solid foundation in the methods and laboratory best practices they’ll take with them into their chosen field upon graduation. Their new autoclave needed to be safe, efficient, and durable.

Bethany college opted to replace their manual autoclave with with a Priorclave benchtop unit. These highly energy-efficient autoclaves are perfectly suited to routine student operation. Every Priorclave autoclave is equipped with an advanced programmable Tactrol control system featuring permission-based door release with both thermal and pressure interlocks. Under normal operating conditions it’s impossible to unsafely open a Priorclave autoclave—perfect for training our next generation of researchers and technicians.

For added safety and durability, Priorclave has partnered with Addmaster (UK) Ltd. to offer Biomaster Protected® Antimicrobial Surfaces on all Priorclave sterilizers. Biomaster silver-based coatings have been tested in thousands of applications, and are proven to reduce microbial surface contamination that poses both a health-safety hazard and can lead to a shortened lifespan for the autoclave.

INBRE

This installation at Bethany College was made possible by an award sponsored by the WV-INBRE program. WV-INBRE—part of the NIH Institutional Development Award (Idea) Program—aims to promote the education and training of students in the field of biomedical research in primarily undergraduate institutions in the state of West Virginia. In addition to teaching laboratory practices, the autoclave will be used for faculty-directed research, allowing students to gain hands-on biomedical research experience at Bethany College.

About Bethany College

Bethany College was founded in March 2, 1840 by Alexander Campbell. Campbell—a clergyman and religious reformer—strongly believed that the goal of education is to prepare students to become useful and responsible members of society by liberating them from superstition and ignorance, the tyranny of others, and “vulgar prejudices.” He thus founded Bethany College both on the western religious tradition and the tradition of the American Enlightenment. Campbell envisioned that upon graduation, students would become their own teachers and pupils and continue their education throughout life.