Device for early detection of micro-organisms

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device (1) permitting an early detection, without measurement of the fluorescence, of colonies resulting from the multiplication of micro-organisms present in a sample to be tested, said device (1) comprising: - a substantially flat and horizontal detection surface (5), on which at least one support (3) for growing the micro-organisms in the form of colonies is arranged immobile, this support (3) being of the type membrane or agar medium, - a detection system (7), such as a linear scanner, mounted movable and flat for scanning the whole or part of said surface (5), including at least one CCD sensor (8), which an optical system comprised of at least one lighting (9) and at least one optical means, such as a lens (10), is associated with, the CCD sensor (8) of the detection system (7) has a resolution higher than or equal to 2400 dpi, and the detection system (7) permits the detection by imaging of colonies having a diameter smaller than 50 [mu]m through a useful magnification higher than or equal to 60.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to the field of detection of growth stage microorganisms. [0002] The present invention will mainly be applied in the field of industrial microbiology, for example, pharmaceutical, biotechnology or agro-industries. [0003] In particular, the present invention relates to a device enabling early detection of colony formation on the surface of membranes, solid or semi-solid growth media based on the presence of microorganisms in a sample. Background technique [0004] Currently, there are many techniques implemented to detect contaminants, such as bacteria, in the samples to be tested. [0005] The most common and oldest method involves deposition on the surface of an agar medium, where the medium is more or less selective for one or a few types of microorganisms. The medium is incubated at a suitable temperature for the growth of the microorganisms sought for a period which may usually extend to several days. [0006] The disad...

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Problems solved by technology

[0006] The disadvantage of this method is that relatively long incubation periods are required in order for the colonies formed on the agar to be detectable with the naked eye

[0008] The disadvantage of these methods is that several kinds of DNA strands are required, that is, several kinds of contaminating microorganisms, generally at least dozens of microorganisms

Therefore, the implementation of this type of technique, with detection on one or several detection supports (e.g., membrane or agar medium), proves to be time-consuming and expensive, because each cm 2 only takes a few minutes, expensive because of the need to use a scanning system

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