Rapid Microparticle Concentrator - Animation

The InnovaPrep technology has application with any identifier, detector, or detection method where increased sensitivity is needed. Fields of application include, but are not limited to, food, drug, and water safety; biodefense; diagnostic research; and industrial and environmental monitoring. Rapid microbiological analytical methods offer great potential for increasing the reliability of pathogen detection in foods while reducing labor costs and product hold times; however, small analysis volumes limit the usefulness of these methods. Pre-enrichment is often used to overcome this limitation, but the significant time advantage of these methods is then lost. In an effort to fill this void, InnovaPrep has developed a rapid ‘mechanical concentration’ approach with single-use membrane filter tips and a novel elution process to allow for straightforward, user-friendly concentration of pathogens. The concentration process uses microfiltration to capture organisms within a porous membrane filter within the Concentrating Pipette’s single-use tip. After the sample has been processed and the organisms have been trapped, InnovaPrep’s patented Wet Foam ElutionTM process is employed to wash the particles off of the membrane surface into a very small liquid volume to better match the input volumes of rapid detection methods such as immunoassay, PCR etc., thus enabling detection at previously undetectable levels. The one-pass method provides rapid sample volume reduction and simultaneous clean buffer exchange. Nowhere is this more important than for trace analysis of dilute contaminants. Liquid samples can be concentrated in minutes allowing concentration factors of several orders of magnitude for direct detection by allowing analysis of the entire sample. This method eliminates the need for manual methods such as overnight enrichment. Some more difficult matrices can be first diluted, pre-filtered and then concentrated for direct detection. Solid samples that cannot be diluted can be pulverized, prefiltered then added to an enrichment broth and incubated for reduced periods (3 to 6 hours) prior to concentration.