The MIT 1000 System from Micro Imaging Technology, Inc. can now identify Staphylococcus aureus.

"This is a significant step forward for the MIT 1000 technology," said Dr. David Haavig, Micro Imaging Technology's Chief Scientist. "The completion of this S. aureus Identifier, which gives the MIT 1000 System the ability to identify S. aureus, continues to demonstrate the sensitivity of this non-biological bacterial identification technology and adds to MIT's growing catalog of Identifiers. Adding S. aureus to our catalog of Identifier's, gets MIT one step closer to creating an Identifier for the superbug, Methicillin Resistant S. aureus also known as MRSA."

Completing this S. aureus Identifier is a significant milestone in the previously announced collaboration with the Northern Michigan University (NMU) Department of Biology. The goal of this collaboration is to rapidly and cost-effectively identify and differentiate the healthcare threats, S. aureus and MRSA, using the MIT 1000 System.

The MIT 1000 is a rapid, bacterial cell-based detection and identification system that can identify pathogenic bacteria, now including Staph aureus. It's laser-based, and delivers and identification just minutes after culturing. Due to the small sample volume required, culture time is also reduced by up to 50% compared to standard testing procedures. In most cases, results can be obtained in as little as eight hours from the time the culturing process begins.

In addition to this new Identifier, the MIT 1000 can also identify Listeria genus, Staphylococcus genus, Salmonella enterica serotype Choleraesuis (S. Choleraesuis) and Enterococcus faecalis. All MIT 1000 System bacterial identification tests consist of a simple, chemical-free, very low-cost, one-minute sample preparation procedure and a two-minute average hands-off sample measurement.