MIT Announces Breakthrough in Pathogen Testing
SAN CLEMENTE, CA--(Marketwired - Jul 24, 2015) - Micro Imaging Technology, Inc. (OTCQB: MMTC) announced that, through its collaboration with Northern Michigan University (NMU), it has developed a testing protocol that allows for detection of pathogen species from liquid cultures. Dr. Josh S. Sharp, Ph.D., assistant professor at the NMU Department of Biology in Marquette, Michigan, has been spearheading the collaboration between MIT and NMU since October of 2013. He is researching clinical applications of the MIT 1000 System, particularly the pathogens Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Methicillin Resistant S. aureus (MRSA). "Many of the current agar plate based identification methods require 16-24 hours of growth before identifications can be made," said Dr. Sharp. "Our work with MIT and its rapid laser-based identification system, the MIT 1000, has effectively eliminated the need for that time-consuming step and reduced the time required for pathogen sample preparation and identification to 4-6 hours given a sufficient starting inoculum. This new protocol allows for detection of Staphylococcus species from liquid cultures and has provided important groundwork to facilitate rapid enrichment of target bacteria for identification using the MIT 1000."
"The MIT 1000 has already proven to be one of, if not the fastest and least expensive method for pathogen testing out there," said Jeff Nunez, President of MIT. "This recent innovation in capturing target bacteria, eliminating the need for agar plate culturing, should prove to be a highly significant leap forward for the MIT 1000 in both clinical and food safety applications."
About: Northern Michigan University
Northern Michigan University, located in Marquette, Michigan, is a dynamic four-year, public, coeducational university that has grown its reputation based on its award-winning leadership programs, cutting-edge technology initiatives and nationally recognized academic programs. The university's fastest growing academic areas are clinical science, biology, and the geographical and environmental sciences. Northern Michigan has a population of about 9,000 undergraduate and graduate students. It offers 180 degree programs, including 18 graduate programs.
About: Micro Imaging Technology, Inc.
Micro Imaging Technology, Inc. is a California-based public company that is also registered to do business under the name Micro Identification Technologies. MIT has developed and patented the MIT 1000, a stand-alone, rapid, optically-based, software driven system that can identify pathogenic bacteria and complete an identification test, after culturing, in three (3) minutes (average) at the lowest cost per test when compared to any other conventional method. It does not rely on chemical or biological agents, conventional processing, fluorescent tags, gas chromatography or DNA analysis. The process requires only clean filtered water and a sample of the unknown bacteria. Revenues for all rapid testing methods exceed $5 billion annually -- with food safety accounting for over $3.5 billion, which is expected to surpass $4.7 billion by this year according to BCC Research. In addition, the recently passed "New" U.S. Food Safety Bill is expected to further accelerate the current annual growth rate of 6.6 percent.
In June 2009, the AOAC Research Institute (AOAC RI) awarded the Company Performance Tested Methods SM (PTM) certification for the rapid identification of Listeria. The AOAC RI provides an independent third party evaluation and expert reviews of methods and will award PTM certification to methods that demonstrate performance levels equivalent or better than other certified bacteria identifying methods. The MIT System underwent hundreds of individual tests, including ruggedness and accuracy, to earn AOAC RI's certification for the identification of Listeria.
You can find more information about our company and about Micro Identification Technologies™. Please visit our newly enhanced website at www.micro-identification.com.
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