Automated molecular method for powerful microbial monitoring.

Enhance quality assurance by using the RiboPrinter® System to quickly and accurately identify and differentiate contaminating organisms. The RiboPrinter® System, originally sold by Qualicon™, generates genetic, strain-level 'fingerprints' of bacteria and compares them against thousands of other patterns to identify contaminating organisms and how they entered your production environment. This critical information helps you design interventions for safety and quality that are highly targeted, effective and efficient.

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Track and trend bacterial contamination from any sample.

RiboPrinter® System provides automated bacterial identification with highly differentiated strain-level characterization. This powerful molecular method automatically identifies unknown bacterial isolates and characterizes them at or below the species level. Isolate sources can be raw materials, in-process samples, the processing environment and finished products.  

Patented process. Rapid results.

Samples are prepared in batches and loaded into the characterization unit for processing in about eight hours. The RiboPrinter® System uses a patented technology to process bacterial samples and extract data derived from the gene fragments that encode their ribosomal RNA. That data is used to generate RiboPrint™ patterns, which are genetic fingerprints of individual samples. The system then compares these patterns against others in the database to characterize (group) samples at the subspecies level. The patterns can also be used to identify genus and species.

More than 16S sequencing.

RiboPrinter® System technology investigates a much larger portion of the bacterial genome than many other methods. The RiboPrinter® System investigates regions encoding not only the 16S rRNA sequence, but also the 5S and 23S sequences, plus the spacer regions and flanking genes on either side. This rich depth of information is what allows for highly precise differentiation among strains of the same species, even those with the same 16S sequence. Moreover, this fine degree of resolution applies to environmental isolates, pathogens, spoilage organisms, control strains, beneficial organisms or any other bacteria that are important to industry.

Flexibility to match any situation.

With RiboPrinter® System restriction enzyme flexibility, ribotyping bacteria can be performed with either a prepackaged restriction enzyme or a custom configuration, while retaining the advantages of full automation. Up to eight bacterial isolates can be tested at one time, with results available eight hours from sample input. Because the system can accept new batches every two hours, up to 32 samples can be loaded in a normal workday. This provides rapid, accurate results for great confidence in any product tested.

Automated performance. 

From start to finish, the automated RiboPrinter® System simplifies operator training and minimizes errors due to technique. Loading and operating the characterization unit are easy and intuitive. The workstation software is user-friendly, providing sophisticated data analysis that eliminates the need for subjective interpretation of results.

Intelligent identification. 

Every time a sample is run, the RiboPrinter® System produces an exact genetic snapshot of the organism that is linked to historical data and compared against libraries of existing patterns. Each system includes standard identification libraries with over 6900 RiboPrint™ patterns, representing 219 bacterial genera and more than 1440 species and serotypes that are critical to the food and pharmaceutical industries. You can also create custom identification libraries to meet the unique needs of your business.

Data security and audit trails.

RiboPrinter® System software includes features that are important to pharmaceutical, biotechnical and other industries regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The Windows®-based application provides data security and audit trails to support compliance with regulatory requirements for electronic records, as described in FDA 21 CFR Part 11.

Optional features add more value.

The RiboPrinter® System offers enhancements for diverse customer needs, including:

Remote Client Software 

Remote client software allows you to perform many RiboPrinter® System tasks from another computer on a local or wide area network. You can run the user interface side-by-side with word processing, spreadsheet and presentation applications. This is very convenient when exporting data from the RiboPrinter® system and importing it into other types of documents.

Data Merging Workstation 

The data merging workstation allows you to combine the records from many RiboPrinter® systems over a local network into one integrated database for characterization and identification. This is very valuable to service labs and other customers with several RiboPrinter® systems behind the same firewall. You control which data is merged, along with the frequency of uploads (automated and/or manual) and the processes that are performed on the data. The Data Merging Workstation includes a Windows® -based computer, monitor, printer and software that supports data merging.

RiboPrinter® System Validation Package 

For regulated industries, two convenient RiboPrinter® System validation packages are available for purchase. The main validation package includes comprehensive test protocols for qualifying installation (IQ), performance (PQ) and operation (OQ - operator interface, data analysis and batch processing), along with compliance documents and a test plan. The validation package supplement provides complete descriptions of user requirement specifications and functional design specifications.

Data Merging Workstation Validation Package 

Similar to the validation package for the main system, a data merging workstation validation package is also available for purchase. This package includes test protocols for qualifying installation (IQ), performance (PQ) and operation (OQ), along with a test plan, user requirement specifications and functional design specifications.