Automation Justification in Microbiology Labs

“When responding to public outbreaks, we realized we needed to be able to pour, streak, and inoculate large amounts of media quickly,” says McDowell, who also has the Epidemiological Intelligence Service (EIS) from the CDC assigned to his facility. “We were borrowing people from everywhere to pour plates and streak plates, even taking microbiologists away from their work to deal with the bottlenecks.”

“This was very labor intensive, we knew we had to streamline this process,” says McDowell. “Our first order of business was to get automated.”

McDowell purchased an automated pourer stacker (APS320) to pour media into plates, up to 750 per hour. To work with the APS320, he purchased a Vista Plate Streaker, which processes 180 plates an hour. In addition, to help us identify these agents, we have the Microbial Identification System, with “fast GC,” which can identify organisms at two identifications every five minutes.

“Now we are able to respond more quickly and efficiently to public health outbreaks. Also, the equipment is always available to help make our routine work more effective,” says McDowell, who has put the plate streaker on a cart to be shared among labs. “Automation saves us a ton of time on routine work so we are able to focus on more important activities.”

Critical Points: Sample Preparation

(Dilution & Blending)

When considering automated sample preparation equipment for the microbiology lab, evaluate systems on:

• ACCURACY: of sample weighing (e.g. 25.0g+/- 0.1g), of the volume of diluent (225.0 ml), of the real dilution factor (+/- 1 percent);
• SIMPLICITY: System is easy to use, easy to clean and quick;
• EFFICIENCY: System blends even the most difficult samples (beef, carrots), getting the best homogeneous sample;
• QUIET: Reduces lab noise substantially;
• PRODUCTIVITY: Helps lab do more with less (i.e., reduces operator time during dilution step);
• STANDARDIZATION: Is operator independent.

Case Study: Sample Preparation & Blending

Tom Hanks, microbiology supervisor, with the Wyoming Department of Agriculture, automated his lab’s sample preparation with an EasyMix lab blender to comply with new FDA regulations. His lab primarily tests the microbiology of meat, dairy and water on a routine basis and responds to consumer complaints and public health emergencies. “When the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) changed its regulations, requiring us to increase the volume of our sample sizes and the number of samples we were preparing, we knew we had to make a change,” says Hanks. His lab had been using a 1-liter metal blender similar to a kitchen blender to grind food samples. Meat tissue would bind up the blades making sample preparation difficult and time consuming.

“We needed a faster and easier way to process samples, especially for meat products, which are harder to blend,” says Hanks. “We needed to reduce the labor-intensive part of processing samples.”

EasyMix allows Hanks and his team to put samples in durable, yet disposal plastic bags (80 ml or 400 ml), which are then compacted in a stainless steel chamber.

“It takes us only 10 percent of the time it used to take,” says Hanks, who points out that not having to clean the instrument in between samples is a big time saver. “It’s easy to use, saves us time and provides consistently blended samples.”

Critical Points: Temperature Monitoring

When considering automated temperature monitoring equipment for the microbiology lab, evaluate systems on:

• CONTINUOUS MONITORING & RECORDING: Provides automatic 24-hour monitoring (temperature, humidity, CO2, etc.) of refrigerators, incubators, freezers, etc. from a central location;
• ACCURACY: Measures temperature etc., with the smallest standard deviation;
• TRACEABILITY: Maintains real-time and comprehensive readings in an electronic data base (system is 21 CFR Part 11 compliant), and data can be printed;
• Simplicity: Wireless, easy-to-use, walk-away system with remote access and automatic alarm management;
• PRODUCTIVITY: System increases time available for higher-level functions and provides more comprehensive data for trending and planning;
• STANDARDIZATION: Is operator independent;
• Versatility: the same system (software, receiver) can be used to monitor several parameters (temperature, humidity, pressure, etc.).

Case Study: Temperature monitoring

Larry Kent, quality manager at ETS Laboratories in Napa Valley, offers analytical services to the wine and beverage industries. His lab is one of the largest independent wine testing labs in the U.S., testing 400 to 700 samples per day and more during harvest.