AutoCOL, the First Fully Automated Walk-Away Colony Counting System from Synbiosis

Synbiosis, Is delighted to announce its new AutoCOL fully automated colony counting system has been launched. The integrated system allows microbiologists to load plates and count colonies on up to 100 plates in 30 minutes and is ideal for improving throughput and accuracy in highly regulated laboratories.

The new AutoCOL integrates a simple to set up modern interface and software with an automated plate feeder and colony counter. The plate feeder, which holds up to a hundred 90 mm plates in a 12-position carousel, automatically identifies plates using the AutoCOL’s sophisticated barcode reader and counts colonies on any agar plate. With AutoCOL, microbiologists can set pass/fail limits and the system will track and stack pass/fail plates in specific positions after reading them, ensuring accurate, walk-away counts for microbial applications such as environmental monitoring, QC labs, bioburden testing and water analysis.

Built around Synbiosis’s tried and trusted ProtoCOL 3 technology, AutoCOL features a high-resolution CCD camera and unique three colour lighting, producing precise images of a range of different plates. The system’s software counts colonies, generating accurate results which can be automatically downloaded to formats such as PDF, Excel/OpenOffice or a LIMS system, with plate images stored in an SQL database. This eliminates keying and data transfer errors, generating reproducible, traceable results that are consistent from one microbiologist to another.

Featuring user access levels and a full audit trail with user login and logout records, AutoCOL can be used in a 21 CFR Part 11 environment. The archived results are suitable for creating quality reports for audit by regulatory authorities, making AutoCOL suitable for use in highly regulated microbiology laboratories.

“We’re excited to be launching AutoCOL because it is our first truly walk-away, colony counting system,” comments Kate George, Sales and Technical Director at Synbiosis. “We look forward to showing scientists how AutoCOL saves time and improves count consistency in the high-throughput CRO and pharmaceutical company laboratories where this innovative technology is being trialled.”