COPAN Diagnostics has launched PhenoMATRIX TAG in North America, the company’s new colony selection software which automatically chooses isolated colonies on plated media for picking. 

The new software is an enhancement to its PhenoMATRIX artificial intelligence (AI) technology, which allows automated specimen processor WASPLab users to automatically pre-assess and pre-sort culture plates and segregate bacterial cultures.

PhenoMATRIX was developed with an advanced selection of highly sophisticated algorithms designed for use in the clinical Microbiology laboratory. By grouping negative cultures, microbiologists can quickly review up to 40 plates at a time and batch release negative results quickly. 

PhenoMATRIX TAG automatically performs colony selection for ID and AST workup immediately after automated culture interpretation.

“This is truly the next revolution in AI for Clinical Microbiology. PhenoMATRIX TAG uses advanced algorithms to ensure that the best and most isolated colonies are chosen for workup, every time,” says COPAN Diagnostics’ CEO Norman Sharples. “This technology brings speed and precision to a task that requires high mental acuity and places a lot of stress on overburdened laboratory technologists. This innovation in laboratory automation rapidly and precisely ensures that the correct isolated and/or pure aggregated colonies are automatically chosen for work-up.”

PhenoMATRIX TAG automatically detects and “tags” the best colonies to be picked by Colibri for workup, which is the company’s automated colony picking instrument. PhenoMATRIX TAG can interpret growth based on each laboratory’s custom rules, presumptively identify colonial morphology, and pre-select the best isolated colonies for workup.

The PhenoMATRIX TAG software highlights isolated colonies as well as aggregated colonies; colonies which are not fully isolated but determined by the software to be identical and thus pure. After defining the optimal colonies for selection, PhenoMATRIX TAG communicates the colony coordinates to the Colibri for reliable and accurate picking.

Featured image: PhenoMATRIX TAG automatically detects and “tags” the best colonies to be picked for specimen workup. PhenoMATRIX TAG can interpret growth based on each laboratory’s custom rules, presumptively identify colonial morphology, and pre-select the best isolated colonies for workup. Photo: COPAN