COPAN Diagnostics Announces Another Giant Step in the Evolution of Artificial Intelligence in Clinical Microbiology

(US and Canada) On the heels of recent news of FDA clearance for Colibri™, an automated colony picking instrument for identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing in clinical microbiology, COPAN announced the North American launch of PhenoMATRIX® TAG, colony selection software that automatically chooses isolated colonies on plated media for picking. This new capability is a major enhancement to PhenoMATRIX artificial intelligence (AI) software, which allows automated specimen processor WASPLab® users to automatically pre-assess and pre-sort culture plates and segregate bacterial cultures.

PhenoMATRIX is an unparalleled AI-powered software, developed with an advanced selection of highly sophisticated algorithms designed for use in the clinical microbiology laboratory. By grouping negative cultures, which represent the majority of cultures screened, microbiologists can quickly review up to 40 plates at a time and batch release negative results quickly. Eliminating the need to review each plate manually saves precious time and allows technicians to focus on complex cultures that require their unique expertise, and to consult with physicians to provide better patient care.

The power of PhenoMATRIX AI is enhanced with PhenoMATRIX TAG, which 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. 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," said COPAN Diagnostics' CEO Norman Sharples.