The invention relates to an apparatus (100) for the combined incubation and vitrification of a viable biological material; said apparatus comprises: a housing (2) having an extension in a longitudinal direction (X) and an extension in a transversal direction (Y); said housing comprising: one or more culture dish compartments (4), each being adapted to accommodate one or more culture dishes (6) comprising a biological material, each said culture dish comprises one or more culture wells (8) for accommodating said biological material; wherein said apparatus comprises one or more image capturing devices (10) adapted to capture images of one or more of said biological material accommodated in said one or more culture dishes; wherein said apparatus comprises cryogenic means (12) for cooling at cryogenic temperatures of a biological material, said cryogenic means being arranged in a cryogenic area (14) at a different location relative to said one or more culture dish compartments (4); wherein said one or more cultur
