Increased throughput, reproducibility and traceability for food, environmental & research labs
Counting bacterial colonies is still a routine part of microbiology testing in many laboratories. However, counting colonies manually has several drawbacks, especially for regulated industries. Firstly, counting manually can be a time-consuming process and there is a risk of human error and the lack of traceability that comes with counting colonies by eye. Secondly, when counts are performed by more than one technician, the variation in readings can lead to a lack of reproducibility.
Protos 3 from Synbiosis is the ideal automated colony counter and identification system for food and environmental testing labs, as well as Universities and research centres. The system can detect colonies as small as 43 microns and works with all commonly used agars and plates up to 150 mm:
- Pour plates
- Spread plates
- Spiral plates
- Chromogenic agar
The Protos 3 allows technicians to analyse 75 plates in 5 minutes and can classify colonies based on size, shape, and/or colour. The software can also detect positive and negative colonies on chromogenic agar plates, reducing the need for biochemical confirmations. Synbiosis software developers have worked with a number of media manufacturers to develop an extensive reference database of chromogenic media.
The ability of the software to split touching colonies, calculate dilution factors and exclude membrane grids from detection makes the Protos 3 a powerful addition to any environmental or water testing laboratory.
Common Applications:
- Total Viable Count / Bioburden test / Microbial Limits Test
- Preservative Efficacy Testing
- Environmental Monitoring / Water Testing / Membrane Filtration
- Air sampling / Settle Plate / Contact Plate
The Protos 3 is lightweight and compact and features two sliding doors to prevent excessive ambient light affecting the readings. The system can be connected to a PC in minutes and the intuitive software can be mastered with minimal training. Colony count results and images are automatically saved in a secure database which ensures the traceability of your results. This database is password protected and results cannot be edited.
Contact MSC below to learn more about our range of colony counters or to organise a demo:
