Fast, easy and cost-effective strain typing with the IR Biotyper®

Scenarios like multi-resistant organism outbreaks, or suspicious resistance patterns for several samples in a short time period, demand quick information on the strain (sub-species) level for effective hospital hygiene management. Fast microbial strain typing is as well required in food and beverage industry for timely decisions on safety and quality of production batches and for QC of technological strains.

Effective hospital hygiene management and microbial typing for real-time epidemiology

Scenarios like multi-resistant organism outbreaks, or suspicious resistance patterns for several samples in a short time period, demand quick information on the strain (sub-species) level for effective hospital hygiene management. Sophisticated methods of microbial strain typing are required to contain healthcare associated infections (HAI) in a timely manner, to prevent prolonged hospital stays and limit the economic burden on healthcare systems.

Fast, easy-to-apply and economical typing methods are in high demand in hospital hygiene management for infection control, epidemiological studies and to better understand the pathogenesis of infection. The IR Biotyper® is Bruker’s infrared spectroscopy solution for subtyping of microorganisms, matching the hospital hygiene needs with excellent discriminatory power comparable to routine molecular genetic methods.

IR Biotyper® for proactive monitoring and microbial quality control

Hygiene control and source tracking throughout food and beverage production lines involves adequate monitoring of potential contaminants. With its high discriminatory power, the fast and easy workflow of the IR Biotyper® allows real-time monitoring and source-tracking.

To ensure the quality and consistency of the products derived from beneficial microorganisms, QC strategies are crucial in monitoring biotechnological manufacturing. When using the IR Biotyper®, strain typing of the technological strains can be done in less than 3 hours.

Rapid speed of analysis

Technologies such as whole genome sequencing (WGS), although powerful, are comparatively slow and generate a huge amount of data that takes a long time to analyze. Bruker’s IR Biotyper® offers a rapid first-line solution for hospital outbreaks and industrial hygiene control – requiring only 3 hours from culture transfer to result. Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) technology is capable of discriminating at the strain level by providing a highly specific fingerprint. The IR Biotyper® measures at 1 minute per spot and 3 minutes per sample. The workflow is incredibly efficient, with up to 30 isolates analyzed within one run.

An early warning system

The IR Biotyper® is seen as the early screening method/warning system, which can then be followed by methods such as WGS for more in-depth analysis. The two stages are an ideal combination, as the use of FT-IR can already trigger important decisions when time matters.