Zones of inhibition are the area around an antibiotic, which may be in the form of a disc or pipetted straight onto a plate, that can be used to measure if a particular bacterium is susceptible towards a certain antibiotic. The size of the zone reflects how effective the bacteria is at inhibiting the effect of an antibiotic; therefore, the measurement of this size is vitally important to be accurate, precise, and reliable when it comes to research, drug testing, and other applications.
Traditionally, inhibition zones are measured manually by eye using either a ruler or callipers. This method can lead to inconsistencies between users and lack repeatability. By automating the process, our system not only ensures consistency and reliability, but also saves a significant amount of time. It can measure all zones on one plate in one analysis, performing the test in a matter of seconds rather than minutes. This time-saving feature allows researchers and drug testing professionals to focus on other critical tasks, relieving them from the laborious manual measurement process.
The software that comes with our devices is capable of measuring inhibition zones with an accuracy of up to +/-0.1mm. The inhibition zone software module comes as standard with the ProtoCOL, ProcScan, and ChromaZona devices. Synbiosis have developed machines that can measure plates of all shapes and sizes up to 300 mm x 300 mm, allowing you to select the device that is best suited for you. When finished with the analysis, the results can be displayed in customisable reports in either PDF, Excel, or CSV format to suit your laboratory’s requirements or by linking our software up with your LIMS. Our inhibition zone measuring software is also used within our Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing module, which combines your measurements with the latest EUCAST and CLSI databases to produce instant antibiotic resistance results. We are also linked with UNISTAT, a third-party company we have worked with to make our software compatible with their comprehensive statistical package.
Our intuitive software is designed to empower you to customise your analysis. It allows you to match the set-up to your plate layout, whether that be rows, lines, or rings, and whether you have a disc present or not. You also have the ability to define the edge of the zone, giving you full control over your analysis. The software is even capable of measuring zones on SRID plates. Synbiosis devices adhere to 21 Part 11 CFR Compliance criteria, with three permission tiers allowing laboratories to control which users can perform which parts of the analysis. Audit trails are available and track a whole host of changes, including editing plate results, permission changes, and user logins. These audit trails can be visualised in the form of reports, further enhancing the adaptability and control our software provides.
