Diagnostic Microbiology

The isolation and identification of micro-organisms for medical diagnostic purposes plays an important role in determining which treatments are required by patients with various diseases.

Conventional laboratory diagnostic microbiology involves specimen collection, registration, inoculation, isolation, identification and testing of pathogenic microbes from clinical specimens. The aim is to obtain isolated colonies of microbes for subsequent analysis.

Diagnostic microbiology is performed in medical, environmental and food testing laboratories and has traditionally used minimal process automation.

Generally, isolation of single bacterial colonies is performed manually using agar plates and manual spreading devices. This process is labour intensive and time-consuming.

MicroStreak®

LabTech Systems has designed a revolutionary system, MicroStreak®, which will automate the preparation and streaking of microbiological specimens on to standard agar plates for diagnostic microbiology.

MicroStreak® involves the use of a patented streaking device that is applied to the surface of an agar plate and is rotated to various degrees. This system will automate and replace many of the manual tasks traditionally involved in the preparation of agar plates.

The technology provides superior results for microbial colony isolation compared to traditional techniques. The fast processing time achieved for agar plate inoculation and spreading has confirmed the commercial potential of MicroStreak®.

Future Research

LabTech Systems is committed to commercialising a range of innovative products to further automate diagnostic microbiology laboratories, and the Company’s work with the MicroStreak® technology will positively impact future research and development projects.