FAQ - Microbiology Reader Bioscreen C and Software Research Express

Question:
How does Bioscreen C differ from standard plate readers (from 96-well and 384-well ELISA readers)?

Answer:
Bioscreen C is specially designed for microbiology work. Its temperature gradient over all 200 wells is very constant - temperature difference is max. +/- 0.1 ºC. Because of honeycomb format the 200 wells are packed on same area where 96-well readers have 96 wells. Bioscreen C includes a sterile and autoclavable dispensing system. Bioscreen C dynamic temperature range is 1.0 - 60.0 ºC. Bioscreen C measures a turbidity by special turbidity filter (filter 8). Turbidity gives more accurate growth curves as compared to measurement of OD at specific wavelength by 96-well or 384-well ELISA readers.

Question:
What technical feature is unique in a Bioscreen C?

Answer:
By special technique (by dual heating of sample and cover) a condensation of plate cover is eliminated and for that reason a transparent cover can kept constantly on multiwell plates with getting excellent and correct OD values. (With other equipment condensation drops cause measurement of wrong OD values) in case that a sample plate is covered during run.

Question:
Do standard 96-well plates or 384-well plates fit in Bioscreen C?

Answer:
No. The 2 honeycomb plates (a' 100 wells) of Bioscreen C are surrounded with continuously circulating heating/cooling liquid. Honeycomb plate covers are extra-heated electrically to avoid appearing of condensed water mask. The honeycomb plates, an incubation cassette and a heating/cooling system (peltier system) form a single block where the 96-well plate don't fit. 100-well honeycomb plates are a new plate format for microbiology work. In microbiology work the 100-well honeycomb plates are superior to 96-well plates and this format can be called a new standard as there are already over 500 installations of Bioscreen C worldwide (November, 2002).

Question:
Are there any kits or chemicals belonging to Bioscreen C?

Answer:
No. Bioscreen C is an open system. It is an incubating turbidity meter for any sample or broth selected by a user. Honeycomb plates are sold as empty sterile 100-well microplates. 2 honeycomb plates (200 wells) fit into a Bioscreen C incubator/measurement cassette.

Question:
Can Bioscreen C do an ID of micro-organisms?

Answer:
ID of micro-organisms cannot be done with Bioscreen C because there aren't kits for honeycomb plate format.

Question:
Can Bioscreen C do MIC tests?

Answer:
For antimicrobial susceptibility studies (MIC) Bioscreen C can be used. Bioscreen C permits to measure both end-point and kinetical MIC values. Also combination effect of several antibiotics can be studied as end-point or as kinetically test. Bioscreen C is mainly targetted to research users - there aren't ready MIC kits for honeycomb format. In MIC tests the antibiotics must be dispensed into honeycomb wells each time before a run.

Question:
Can Bioscreen C run experiments with strict anaerobic micro-organisms?

Answer:
Yes, the honeycomb plate cover can be sealed on honeycomb plate by silicone glue to maintain an anaerobiosis inside a sample plate. Or alternatively a whole Bioscreen C can be placed into anaerobic chamber or into anaerobic room.

Question:
Can I measure pH and chemicals concentration kinetically in wells?

Answer:
Yes. Between measurements, during a pre-measurement waiting time, the covers of sample plates can be opened and a pH, chemicals concentration or other parameters can be measured by micro electrodes (micro electrodes are not belonging to a Bioscreen C equipment). A small portion of a sample (few microliters) can be taken to microscopic study or to other equipment (e.g. to luminometer or fluorometer).

Question:
What kind of microbiological calculations are done by Bioscreen C?

Answer:
Growth curve parameters (slope, area, start and end OD, max and min. OD, detection time etc), generation time and specific rate of growth. Automatically generated growth curves and microbiological calculations are on over 20 MS Excel sheets. Additionally, a user can create endless amount of own created MS Excel sheets with graph and microbiological calculations to be linked automatically with each run.

Question:
What is Bioscreen useful for? For what kind of microbiology or biosciences work Bioscreen C I can use it? What can I do with it?

Answer:
It is a useful tool in such work where a growth happening of microbiological samples is wanted to show on screen (growth curves of 200 samples at time) and where microbiological calculations are wanted to be done automatically. With 200 samples at time a throughput of microbiology experiments is approximately 20 times larger than it is possible by manual methods. Bioscreen is used in various microbiology-, biotechnology- and biomedical fields. See various applications on page Scientific Publications of Work Done by Bioscreen C.

Question:
How to protect and lock a data?

Answer:
During an experiment a workbook structure and all critical areas on worksheets are locked. This prevents an accidental change or deletion of data. After a run worksheets are unlocked and new calculations and new graph can be added.

Question:
What are the computer requirements of software Research Express?

Answer:
Look here:
Computer Requirements of software Research Express

© 2005 Transgalactic Ltd (manufacturer of Bioscreen C software) | Privacy Statement | P.O. Box 1393, 00101 Helsinki, Finland, phone: +358 9 85172920, fax: +358 9 8749481, e-mail: microbiology@bionewsonline.com
 

Last modified: May 25, 2005