Cellulose Hydrogel Culture Medium for Room-Temperature Microbial Testing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current microbiological culture media, such as agar, have limited shelf life and require refrigeration during transport and storage, leading to increased costs and environmental waste, and lack integrated solutions for antibiotic susceptibility testing and colony morphology analysis.
Innovation Solution
A cellulose-based microbiological culture device with a dehydrated hydrogel coating layer integrated on a cellulosic fibrous layer, allowing for rehydration and incorporating culture medium, antibiogram tests, and colorimetric detection, enabling efficient microbial growth and analysis without refrigeration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Duration of action of stationary object
If agar is used as gelling agent in solid culture media, then microbial culture growth is supported, but shelf life is limited and refrigeration is required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical state of the culture medium from hydrated (requiring refrigeration) to dehydrated (room temperature stable). The culture medium is applied in a dehydrated state to the absorbent material, allowing it to maintain stability without refrigeration while still supporting microbial growth when rehydrated during use.
Solution Approach 2:
The culture medium is dehydrated and prepared in advance on the absorbent material before use. This preliminary dehydration step enables long-term storage without refrigeration, and the medium is rehydrated only when needed for the actual microbial culture experiment, thus extending shelf life while maintaining functionality.
2Duration of action of stationary object
If dehydrated culture medium is used, then shelf life is extended and refrigeration is not required, but rehydration time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses an absorbent material with a porous structure (such as cellulose-based materials) that enables rapid capillary action for rehydration. The porous structure allows water to quickly penetrate and distribute throughout the dehydrated culture medium, significantly reducing rehydration time while maintaining the shelf life benefits of dehydration.
3Adaptability or versatility
If standard Petri dish with agar is used, then microbial identification is achieved, but integrated antibiotic susceptibility testing and colony morphology analysis are not provided
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple testing functions into a single integrated device. The absorbent material layer contains both the culture medium and embedded antibiotic susceptibility testing zones, allowing simultaneous microbial culture, antibiotic testing, and colony morphology analysis in one device rather than requiring separate Petri dishes and test strips.
Solution Approach 2:
The device is designed as a multi-functional platform that can perform various microbiological tests including standard culture identification, antibiotic susceptibility testing with multiple antibiotics, and colony morphology analysis. This universal design eliminates the need for multiple separate devices while maintaining all necessary testing capabilities.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The device extends shelf life, reduces waste, and facilitates rapid, cost-effective microbial culture and susceptibility testing, suitable for resource-poor settings, with integrated solutions for colony scoring and antibiotic gradient determination.
Implementation Method 1
The absorbent component is a fibrous cellulosic material where the hydrogel is applied over, in a way that the hydrogel is partially integrated into the fibre matrix
Implementation Method 2
a sheet of dehydrated polysaccharide hydrogel which can be rehydrated
Data Source
AI summary
A cellulose-based microbiological culture device of bio-based and biodegradable materials, comprising a high-water absorbent cellulose layer with a hydrogel formulation comprising hydrocolloids that form a hydrogel upon rehydration. The present application further discloses a cellulose-based microbiological culture device with an integrated antibiogram or a standalone e-test device. The presently disclosed device is renewable, low-cost, has an increased durability and allows the reduction of laboratory waste.