New Laser Based Technology Provides Fast, Low Cost Microbial Identification

Micro Imaging Technology (MIT) is located in San Clemente, California and for several years has been developing a laser based breakthrough technology for rapid microbial identification. The company’s first product, the MIT 1000, has now gone into production.

The MIT 1000 is currently capable of identifying 23 different bacterial species (e.g. E.coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella). Unlike other test methods (i.e. standard lab testing or PCR) the user is not limited to testing for a specific organism. As long as the organism is in the MIT 1000 library, it will be identified. We can also add other species to the library to suit your specific needs. I have attached a copy of our data sheet that provides more detail about the system.

Most of the popular rapid identification systems cost over $5 per test ($2.85/test is the industry average according to Strategic Consultants Inc) and the MIT 1000 is conservatively estimated at only $0.10/test as the system uses no reagents or chemicals to ID the organism.

Results are obtained in minutes after the culturing stage is completed, due to the small number of organisms needed for the system to properly identify the contaminant, culturing is usually completed in less than 12 hours. MIT's laboratory testing for bacteria such as E.coli and Salmonella was actually completed in just over 10 hours from the time the 'sample scraping' occurred.