The Sartorius Airport MD8 from Microbiology International is an air sampler suitable for applications in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and food and drink industries.
The Airport MD8 can also be used in hospitals for environmental protection and occupational safety.
It weighs only 5.5lbs and is battery operated, making it easily portable.
The battery offers 4.5 hours of sampling time and can still be used while it is recharging.
The battery level is indicated, ensuring constant performance during sampling.
The Airport MD8 is ergonomically designed and easy to clean.
It has flexible options for customised use, including adjustable air throughput and air flow rate.
The parameters last used are stored even after the automatic shut-off.
With the optional calibration unit, the air sampler can be calibrated on site.
The Airport MD8 utilises the gelatin membrane filter method for collecting airborne micro-organisms.
This is the only sampling method that boasts a 99.9 per cent retention rate for airborne micro-organisms compared with 40-60 per cent for other collection methods.
It is also the only method capable of reliably collecting airborne viruses.
Due to the porous nature of the filter, all bacteria-laden particles are captured, regardless of size, and the residual moisture content of the filter prevents desiccation of the retained organisms.
Filters are pre-sterilised (gamma irradiation), single or triple bagged, H2O2 safe and disposable.
After sampling, there are two filter transfer methods: direct and indirect.
Using the direct method, the filter is placed directly on an agar nutrient plate.
The gelatin filter dissolves, leaving the micro-organisms in direct contact with the plate.
Using the indirect method, after sampling, the gelatin filter is dissolved in a sterile solution.
The solution is then membrane-filtered and the filter disk is placed on an agar medium.
The indirect method is useful for special evaluations, such as when inhibitors are present in the air being sampled, high colony counts are expected or when micro-organisms collected are to be simultaneously incubated on several different agar types.
When the virus concentration is to be determined, the indirect method must be used so that retained viruses can be cultivated in the solution and analysed by virological or molecular biological methods.
