초록 ▼

The metabolism and growth of cells is measured by suspending the cells in a liquid medium capable of forming a gel. The resultant suspension is formed into small droplets which droplets are caused to gel. Samples of the gel microdroplets (GMDs) are treated to alter the metabolism or growth of the ce

The metabolism and growth of cells is measured by suspending the cells in a liquid medium capable of forming a gel. The resultant suspension is formed into small droplets which droplets are caused to gel. Samples of the gel microdroplets (GMDs) are treated to alter the metabolism or growth of the cells, and the amount of metabolites, or other cellular products or external reaction products within each GMD is measured. The process can be utilized to determine essentially simultaneously the enumeration or count and the antibiotic susceptibility, or susceptibility to other compounds, factors, biological agents or other cells, of the cells which are representative of a larger sample of said cells.

대표청구항 ▼

A process for determining the effects of at least one composition of matter upon a microbiologically active material selected from the group consisting of a macromolecule, a viroid, a virus, a bacterium, a yeast, a mold, a parasite, a plant cell and a mammalian cell in a sample comprising the steps

A process for determining the effects of at least one composition of matter upon a microbiologically active material selected from the group consisting of a macromolecule, a viroid, a virus, a bacterium, a yeast, a mold, a parasite, a plant cell and a mammalian cell in a sample comprising the steps of: forming a plurality of subsamples from the sample of microbiologically active material comprising at least one test subsample and at least one control subsample, each of said subsamples being made by: (i) forming a suspension of the microbiologically active material in a liquid diluent capable of forming a gel, each said suspension comprising a plurality of liquid micro-droplets, each of said liquid micro-droplets containing not substantially more than one microbiologically active entity: (ii) converting said liquid micro-droplets of each said suspension into gel micro-droplets having a diameter between about 0.2 and 1000 microns; combining said test subsamples with a composition of interest while maintaining said control subsamples as uncombined suspensions of micro-droplets; measuring a characteristic product of microbiological activity for each of said combined subsamples and each of said uncombined subsamples; and comparing said measured characteristic product from said combined subsamples to said measured characteristic product from said uncombined subsamples to determine the effect of the composition of interest.