{"id":3059,"date":"2016-08-29T15:31:30","date_gmt":"2016-08-29T02:31:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/microbiologymatters.com\/?p=3059"},"modified":"2016-08-29T21:59:32","modified_gmt":"2016-08-29T08:59:32","slug":"the-art-of-interpretation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microbiologymatters.com\/?p=3059","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;The Art of Interpretation&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3061\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/microbiologymatters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/entericflora.jpg?resize=300%2C263\" alt=\"entericflora\" width=\"300\" height=\"263\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/microbiologymatters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/entericflora.jpg?resize=300%2C263&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/microbiologymatters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/entericflora.jpg?resize=768%2C672&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/microbiologymatters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/entericflora.jpg?w=1016&amp;ssl=1 1016w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">At the moment I would estimate that 5% of agar plates worldwide are read by the examination of a digital image, as opposed to someone holding the plate in their hand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"> In 10-15 years I predict this percentage will be closer to 50%&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">And currently, the vast majority of agar plates are still analysed manually,\u00a0by a scientist examining the colonies present on the cultured agar plate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">This also is going to change dramatically over the next 10-15 years&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">The process of <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">automated plate interpretation<\/span> has started. Some automated <span style=\"color: #ff00ff;\"><a style=\"color: #ff00ff;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bd.com\/scripts\/europe\/labautomation\/productsdrilldown.asp?CatID=455&amp;SubID=1836&amp;siteID=20309&amp;d=&amp;s=europe%2Flabautomation&amp;sTitle=Lab+Automation&amp;metaTitle=Total+Lab+Automation&amp;dc=europe&amp;dcTitle=Europe\">systems<\/a><\/span> have software in place which can already do the following:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Interpret negative\/no growth plates<\/span>, by comparing with a negative template.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Interpret chromogenic plates<\/span>, looking for colonies with a specific colour.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Measure and interpret susceptibility zone sizes to antimicrobials<\/span>.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">But this is a science just in its infancy, and I suspect\u00a0the software\u00a0will soon be able to do the following:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Triage and quantify different colony types on a plate<\/span>, based on size, colour, edge contour, level of haemolysis. This\u00a0will then allow\u00a0Maldi-tof analysis on different<\/span> <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">colony types.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Will be able to assess if the plate growth is sufficient for reading<\/span>, as opposed to waiting for a pre-programmed time period.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">I find it interesting, and\u00a0somewhat surprising, that a lot of microbiology\u00a0laboratories are\u00a0concentrating\u00a0on <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">&#8220;front end&#8221;<\/span> automation ( inoculation and plate spreading) at the moment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">For me, it&#8217;s the <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">&#8220;back end&#8221;<\/span> which is really going to progress and change over the next decade. Automated colony pickers, combined with\u00a0plate interpretation\u00a0software as described above is going to absolutely\u00a0revolutionise traditional plate reading as we know it&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">It is a very exciting area, and plate\u00a0interpretation software will undoubtedly become very powerful. The great unknown however, is how long culture based microbiology can survive the ever increasing sophistication of molecular diagnosis.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">So in summary, by 2030 I think we will be using a lot less agar plates than we do today. But I do think we will still be setting up at least some. However, of those agar plates that are set up,\u00a0I think at least 50% of\u00a0them\u00a0will never be seen by\u00a0a scientist&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Michael<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the moment I would estimate that 5% of agar plates worldwide are read by the examination of a digital image, as opposed to someone holding the plate in their hand. In 10-15 years I predict this percentage will be closer to 50%&#8230; And currently, the vast majority of agar plates are still analysed manually,\u00a0by &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/microbiologymatters.com\/?p=3059\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">&#8220;The Art of Interpretation&#8221;<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[15,4],"tags":[483,391,482],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p37jIp-Nl","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3477,"url":"https:\/\/microbiologymatters.com\/?p=3477","url_meta":{"origin":3059,"position":0},"title":"&#8220;Bacteriology Automation: Warts and all&#8230;&#8221;","author":"michael","date":"July 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Whether you are a microbiology student undertaking exams, a lab manager considering a business case, or a scientist wondering just\u00a0what exactly\u00a0the future holds, you need to know something about bacteriology automation. 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