COPAN and MetaSystems GmbH have signed a global and exclusive agreement for the integration of automatic microscopy slide scanning system, provided by MetaSystems, with WASPLab™. This partnership provides current and future COPAN customers the option to implement in their microbiology laboratory a fully automated system for the acquisition of microscopy images of Gram slides (under the brand Metafer) seamlessly integrated with the WASPLab™ environment. This solution allows the unique web-based WASPLab™ user interface to show on a single screen, not only the images of culture plates, the LIS information, the results from other instruments, but also images taken by the Zeiss microscope connected with the Metafer system.

According to Mr. Daniele Triva, Founder and General Manager of COPAN Group, "this partnership gives COPAN, and its customers, access to unique technology, and pushes further the level of automation and digital imaging available to the microbiology lab, thanks to the sophisticated software and hardware connection between the solutions developed by the two companies."

Mr. Andreas Plesch, General Manager at MetaSystems, stated that "the collaboration with COPAN gives MetaSystems the opportunity to work in a new market application for its technology, with the goal to offer unique features to the microbiology laboratory, where automated systems are now a reality."

The technology was launched in Barcelona during ECCMID, and it is currently displayed at the American Society for Microbiology General Meeting in Boston.