Synbiosis, a manufacturer of automated microbiological systems, is to install 25 ProtoCOL 3 automated colony counting and inhibition zone sizing systems at the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) in Shanghai. The aim is to help increase productivity of vaccine and antibiotic testing at SFDA’s laboratories across China.
The SFDA, which formulates policies and programmes for the administration of drugs, medical devices, health food and cosmetics in China will initially be using the ProtoCOL 3 systems to assess the effectiveness of bacterial vaccines following an opsonophagocytic-killing assay (OPKA) or Serum Bactericidal Assay (SBA).
Scientists at the SFDA will also use the system in future to measure inhibition zones for testing the effectiveness of antibiotics.
The ProtoCOL 3 system uses a tri-colour imaging method to detect coloured and white colonies as small as 43 microns. Synbiosis says it requires minimal training and is therefore suitable for busy microbiology quality assurance laboratories.
This sale is the largest for these colony counters so far in 2013
The order for the SFDA came via Hua Yue Enterprise Holdings, one of Synbiosis’ Chinese distributors, after a lengthy competitive assessment.
This sale is the largest for these colony counters so far in 2013 and closely follows last year’s installation of 27 ProtoCOL 3 systems in Asia.
Leon Zou, General Manager, Microbial Division at Hua Yue Enterprise Holdings, said: ‘The SFDA chose ProtoCOL 3 mainly because of its ability to detect tiny colonies. It is the most effective for use post OPKA and SBA. ProtoCOL 3 can also accurately measure inhibition zones, making the system ideal for future antibiotic testing.’
Martin Smith of Synbiosis added: ‘The ProtoCOL 3 will benefit the SFDA’s laboratories by significantly improving their quality testing throughput and will contribute to speeding up the release of essential vaccines and antibiotics in China.’