Specimen Processing System Utilizes Robotic Plate Management

A barcode driven, conveyor-connected specimen-processing system utilizes robotic plate management to automate workflow in microbiology.

The system, which can manage many different aspects of specimen processing and workup, is called WASPLab. It can handle planting and streaking, Gram slide preparation, enrichment broth inoculation, robotic incubation and storage, plate image analysis, identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST/ID) inoculum preparation, Kirby-Bauer disk application, and even Maldi-Tof target plate seeding.


Copan Diagnostics (Murrieta, CA, USA) unveiled the system in Milan (Italy) during the 21st European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) General Meeting from May 7 to May 10, 2011, and plans to display the system in New Orleans (LA, USA) during the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) 111th General Meeting from May 21 to May 24, 2011.

"We have developed WASPLab with the future of Microbiology in mind and an ongoing commitment to provide a solution for an automated single-piece flow system for specimen processing," said Norman Sharples, Copan Diagnostics' executive VP.

Copan is a manufacturer of collection and transport systems and is well known in the field of preanalytics. The company offers a complete line of automation and a range of microbial sampling products used for traditional culture analysis and molecular diagnostic assays. It supplies bacteriology swabs (flocked swabs and eSwabs), viral transport media (VTM), and molecular systems.

Related Links:
Copan Diagnostics