Rapid Micro Biosystems, a leading provider of automated, non-destructive, rapid microbial detection, today announced the general availability of two-way integration to laboratory information management systems (LIMS) through its industry leading Growth Direct™ System. The new capability allows quality control microbiology labs to save time and reduce errors associated with entry of final test results of environmental monitoring, bioburden and sterility tests.

The bi-directional LIMS integration uses widely supported comma-separated (CSV) files to communicate, allowing integration with most LIMS systems. Due to the flexibility provided by the communication method, integration can be aligned to the specific needs of the quality control microbiology lab both initially and in the future.

The integration supports the use of LIMS or Growth Direct System created barcodes that are applied to Growth Direct Cassettes. After sampling, the cassettes are loaded into the Growth Direct System, which performs the incubation, detection and enumeration of colonies. Final results are automatically uploaded to the LIMS system. This eliminates the need for microbiologists to manually count plates and key the colony forming unit (CFU) values into the LIMS system, reducing the chance of a keying error.

“Our two-way LIMS capabilities will not only save time, but will help reduce errors in the QC lab,” said Julie Sperry, Rapid Micro Biosystems’ Chief Commercial Officer. “The new functionality will help labs move closer to becoming paperless.” Rapid Micro Biosystems will be discussing two-way LIMS integration and other rapid microbiology method capabilities at this week’s European Compliance Academy’s Rapid Microbiology Methods Conference in Heidelberg, Germany.

For more information about Rapid Micro Biosystems visit www.rapidmicrobio.com