A Laminar flow hood/cabinet is an enclosed workstation that is used to create a contamination-free work environment through filters to capture all the particles entering the cabinet.

These cabinets protect the work from the environment and are most useful for the aseptic distribution of specific media and plate pouring.
Laminar flow cabinets are similar to biosafety cabinets with the only difference being that in laminar flow cabinets, the effluent air is drawn into the face of the user. In a biosafety cabinet, both the sample and the user are protected while in the laminar flow cabinet, only the model is protected and not the user. Applications Laminar flow hoods and clean benches do not offer personnel protection as biosafety cabinets do. They are not suitable in the presence of hazardous substances. If your application involves bio-hazard, a biological safety cabinet should be used.