Synbiosis has introduced a revolutionary new software module for the ProtoCOL 3 automated colony counter. The addition of this unique software, makes Protocol 3 the world’s first commercial automatic microbial identification and counter of colonies cultured on CHROMagar plates and means with minimal training, microbiologists can use the system  to rapidly identify and  enumerate all key clinical, water and food-borne pathogens.

The new ProtoCOL 3 software module, which was developed in partnership with  major media manufacturer CHROMagar, ensures that the ProtoCOL 3 system can accurately identify any bacteria or yeast cultured on a CHROMagar plate in less  than a minute, saving microbiologists hours of visually inspecting colonies, and  manually recording results.

The ProtoCOL 3 system performs these ground-breaking tasks by utilising unique,  patented red, blue and green lighting to capture a life-like colour image of the  colonies on the plates. The new software module analyses the image and is so sophisticated that it can distinguish between rose pink and dusty pink, as well as  turquoise from steel blue. This allows precise identification of common pathogens,  including Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, E.coli,  Group B Streptococci, Listeria spp., Vibrio spp and Pseudomonas spp.

The  system also simultaneous enumerates the different coloured colonies of each  species, providing objective, consistent data and reducing operator errors, to  generate accurate results which can be stored as images and Excel spreadsheets.

Kate George, Applications Specialist at Synbiosis explained: “When manually  processing large numbers of plates, microbiologists find identifying and counting  microbes time consuming, repetitive tasks and have often requested a system that can automate these. Accurately identifying microbial pathogens, as well as enumerating so many types of colonies on different agars is difficult. However, we have worked extensively for several years with CHROMagar and are delighted with the resulting powerful analytical software because it makes the ProtoCOL 3 the only commercial system that can perform this seemingly impossible rapid microbial identification task.”

Kate added: “Clinical microbiologists, as well as food, beverage and water quality control scientists looking to obtain precise microbial identification results and increase their colony counting throughput can now enjoy these benefits by installing a ProtoCOL 3 with its revolutionary rapid identification software in their laboratories.”