InnovaPrep LLC is set to launch their latest in a collection of sample prep instruments. The Concentrating Pipette is an automated microparticle concentrator developed to replace antiquated, time consuming, and labor intensive sample prep methods such as culture enrichment, filtration, and centrifugation.The automated one-pass system can rapidly reduce sample volume while removing matrix-associated inhibitors enabling the latest detection systems to quickly identify pathogens at previously undetectable levels.

The Concentrating Pipette utilizes a first-of-its-kind single-use tip. As liquid samples are drawn into the disposable tip, particles are captured with an internal membrane filter. When the entire sample has been processed, InnovaPrep's patents pending "wet foam elution" process is triggered to efficiently recover the captured particles into a highly concentrated final sample (user selected volume sizes from 200 µL to 1000 µL). The elution fluids are compatible with most rapid analytical methods including immunoassay or PCR. Nowhere is the technology more important than for the preparation of biological samples for trace analysis in food and beverage, biodefense, water, environmental, and other applications where tolerance for sample-to-sample carryover is zero.

First introduced in InnovaPrep's HSC-40 Bench-top and subsequent HCI-40 integratable version, the concentration technology has been tested by a wide variety of users from homeland security applications to food and pharmaceutical labs and has proven to be efficient and robust for a variety of sample types.

The system is exceptionally fast-able to concentrate at a rate of 100 mL per minute. This greatly reduces the time to result, allowing the ability to respond to pathogenic threats rapidly, avoiding expensive recalls and reducing holding times. With a simplified one button operation system, the system is easy to use and requires no special operator skill compared to other common sample prep methods.

InnovaPrep has developed a collection of novel technologies enabling rapid detection of biological particles and pathogens including aerosol sample collectors and concentrating equipment for labs, integrated systems, and field use.

Based in Drexel, Missouri, the company's eleven pending and awarded patents apply to highly efficient collection, recovery, and concentration of biological particles from air, surfaces, and liquids. InnovaPrep's novel biological particle elution process underlies many of these patents and enables recovery of particles from filters, membranes, surfaces, and objects. The primary utility for these technologies is to greatly improve the way biological samples, especially those containing pathogenic organisms, are collected and prepared for analysis beyond the state-of-the-art. Specifically, these technologies fill a critical void that currently severely limits application of the most advanced biological detection systems to the billions of microbiological tests performed annually.