New Automated Colony Counter Used to Detect a Range of Diverse Bacteria at Major Food Testing Centre

19th October 2004 Cambridge, UK: Synbiosis, a world-leading manufacturer of automated microbiological systems, is pleased to announce its ProtoCOL SR automated colony counter is being used at the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise, Loughry Campus, Northern Ireland to enumerate different coloured colonies of bacteria and guarantee the highest food safety standards.

Microbiologists at Loughry Campus are using the versatile ProtoCOL SR to automatically count a wide range of bacteria and yeast cells on spiral, pour and spread plates. One of the main uses of the ProtoCOL SR is to differentiate and count the numbers of red colonies from a background of blue colonies plated on selective chromogenic plates.

Edmund Slaine, a Scientific Officer at Loughry Campus commented: “We use the ProtoCOL SR system daily and find it can count a thousand colonies in seconds and can even count colonies as small as 0.5mm. However, it is the ability to count different coloured colonies on the same plate we find most useful.

Since these bacteria are isolated from meat and shellfish destined for supermarkets, being able to use the ProtoCOL SR to quickly count colonies means we can ensure food going on sale is of the highest quality.”

Simon Johns, Divisional Manager for Synbiosis stated: “We are delighted to see a major food testing facility benefiting from the unrivalled colour recognition capabilities of the ProtoCOL SR. The level of quality assurance being achieved at Loughry Campus shows food microbiologists everywhere that ProtoCOL SR can confidently perform simultaneous counts of different coloured colonies, without compromising on the accuracy which is essential for ensuring food safety.”

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Edmund Slaine, College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise, Loughry Campus,

Note to Editors

About Synbiosis

Synbiosis is a world-leading supplier of integrated imaging solutions for automatic counting and analysis of microbial colonies and zone measurement. ProtoCOL and åCOLyte systems from Synbiosis are installed in food, pharmaceutical, environmental and research microbiology laboratories world-wide. Synbiosis uses established distribution channels to market its products internationally.

Synbiosis, founded in 1998 is a division of the Synoptics Group based in Cambridge UK. The Group’s other divisions, Syncroscopy and Syngene, specialise in digital imaging solutions for microscopy and molecular biology applications respectively. Synoptics currently employs 55 people in its UK and US subsidiary operation and has profitable revenue of almost $10 million, which continues to grow rapidly.

About Loughry Campus

Based near Cookstown, in Northern Ireland, Loughry Campus is a major provider of education, training and technical services to the Northern Ireland food industry. The Campus is one of three operated by the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise.