Chemistry: molecular biology and microbiology – Measuring or testing process involving enzymes or... – Involving viable micro-organism
Patent
1996-08-29
1998-04-28
Beisner, William H.
Chemistry: molecular biology and microbiology
Measuring or testing process involving enzymes or...
Involving viable micro-organism
4352862, 4352873, 4352883, 4352887, 4353031, 435809, C12Q 106, C12M 134
Patent
active
057443220
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for queuing and moving multiple similar objects for imaging particularly to allow counting a number of distinct elements in the images so obtained. In particular, it relates to microbiological testing and improvements in the handling and reading of disposable microorganism culturing devices.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Different methods and devices are known for counting microorganism colonies in, for example petri dishes or in disposable microorganism culturing devices such as PETRIFILM culture plates, manufactured by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, St. Paul, Minn. (3M). In the latter case, such devices have a very thin layer of growth medium, making all colonies visible with surface illumination. Manual counting of colonies on such a culture plate by trained laboratory personnel is well-known; typically a plate will be inoculated and marked as to the source of the inoculant, stacked together with similar samples, and placed into an incubator. A manual inspection and counting is typically performed after a period of about 24 hours. This method has known disadvantages, particularly the costs associated with the use of skilled technicians to perform the time-consuming task of manual counting, as well as the limited accuracy of the counts achieved.
Also desirable in the matter of microbiological counting is the early detection of colonies, particularly when food products are being tested. If food product samples indicate excessive contamination, the product must often be discarded. Reliable early detection of excessive contamination in the range of 6 to 12 hours after inoculation would be welcomed because it would allow identification of contaminated products early in processing, thereby avoiding additional expenses incurred in processing product that will be discarded and possibly contaminating additional product by running it through contaminated processing equipment.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/061,678, filed May 14, 1993, METHOD FOR THE EARLY DETECTION OF COLONY GROWTH, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,510,246, reports improvements in colony counting in, e.g., a disposable microorganism culturing media having a substantially planar substrate. These include scanning and imaging the inoculated surface more than once and processing the images to produce a scaled time lapse image. Processing this scaled time lapse image allows the identification of hit pixels which can be clustered to identify the appearance of colonies. Thus early indication of colony growth may be obtained.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/272,996, filed Jul. 14, 1994, A TECHNIQUE TO COUNT OBJECTS IN A SCANNED IMAGE, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,722, reports a method and an apparatus for automated counting. However, a limitation on the reported apparatus is the physical properties of the disposable microorganism culturing media. The disposable culturing media would be difficult to manipulate and index for accurate imaging over repeated cycles. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/240,846, filed May 11, 1994, CASSETTE FOR DISPOSABLE MICROORGANISM CULTURING MEDIA AND AUTOMATED SCANNING SYSTEM, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,950reports an apparatus adapted to automated counting of disposable culturing media.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes the above identified limitations by allowing planar substrates to be more accurately monitored under automatic control. In one aspect, the invention includes an apparatus for counting microorganism colonies on at least one disposable microorganism culturing medium having a substantially planar substrate. Each of these substrates is adapted to be held and supported within a holder. The apparatus has an imaging means for detecting colonies on the substantially planar substrate. Cooperating with the imaging means is a holder positioning means for storing and queuing one or more of the holders. The holder positioning means is adapted for moving the holders sequentially into a predetermined position relative to the imag
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"Count Up to 1000 Objects In A Field, Automatically", by Artek Systems Corporation (3 pages) no date provided.
"Electronic Colony Counters" by VSMF (3 pages) no date provided.
Krejcarek Gary E.
Mach Patrick A.
Morgan Scott D.
Turgeon Thomas A.
Beisner William H.
Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
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