Micromyx is a contract research organisation (CRO) offering microbiology services for the pharmaceutical, animal health and biotech industries.
Gary Zurenko and his colleagues have investigated new methods for automating traditional microbiology assays.
For Micromyx, the focus has been to save on culture media expenditures, run tests faster and benefit from the most efficient use of its staff.
Micromyx is a one-stop shop for drug development companies requiring guidance on the complexities of bringing a new antimicrobial drug to market.
One of the laboratory services Micromyx offers is time-kill kinetic tests, which assess the bactericidal activities of potential new drug compounds.
Establishing a time-kill curve requires large volumes of plated culture media for multiple plated dilutions.
A single study could consist of thousands of plates.
As an answer to the rising cost of culture media, Micromyx uses the Wasp II spiral plater to eliminate many of the serial dilutions performed during a typical time-kill assay.
The Wasp II deposits a known volume of sample on a rotating agar plate in an ever decreasing volume in the form of an Archimedes spiral.
After the sample is incubated, different colony densities are apparent on the surface of the plate.
Using the Wasp II, counts from 400 to 4 x 105cfu/ml can be made using only one Petri dish, compared to using up to six Petri plates with conventional methods.
The Wasp II reduces the media, dilution materials and time necessary to complete a time-kill study.
Another instrument used by Micromyx is the Protocol automated colony counter.
The microbial concentration of the spiral plate is determined by counting the colonies within a specific region of the Petri dish and dividing by the known volume in that region.
Counting hundreds of spiral plates manually is time consuming.
The Protocol counts spiral plates in less than a second.
'Accurate enumeration of our spiral plates is what constructs the time-kill curve, making the study data meaningful,' said Zurenko.
'The fact that we can automate this process and use less time and materials means we can offer competitive pricing for our clients.' Micromyx previously used an old laser scanner, which was limited by its inability to count plates with labels on the bottom, or colonies on opaque media such as blood agar.
This limitation required Micromyx to purchase more expensive plates with side labels.
The Protocol has eliminated the necessity to use specialised plates because of the ability to alter the light source and/or background to account for a label placed on the bottom of the dish without interference.
This ability produced an immediate and significant cost reduction in media spending.
Pairing the Protocol with the Wasp spiral plater reduces time and the number of plates used for plated dilutions by 60 per cent -70 per cent, estimated Zurenko.
'The reduction in time and materials plus the consistency in application and reading of samples makes the Protocol and Wasp well worth the investment,' he added.
Micromyx has a full staff of microbiologists, all of whom have worked with at least one new drug from concept to approval and amassed years of experience in infectious diseases research.
This depth of expertise means informed consulting, intuitive strategies, troubleshooting and accurate result interpretation.
It also means the Zurenko's team is better utilised for 'thinking' tasks, as opposed to performing menial/tedious tasks, such as colony counting.
The Wasp II spiral plater and Protocol colony counter enable Micromyx to improve the accuracy and consistency of results, save money on media expenditures and save researcher time with increased efficiency.
