INTRODUCTION

Identification of bacteria and fungi by traditional methods can be a time consuming and complex task. Workup of bacteria and yeasts may include assessing colony and gram stain morphology followed by phenotypic and biochemical testing. For fungi, organisms are often distinguished by their characteristic microscopic and macroscopic morphology. In the case of the mycobacteria, DNA probes or other molecular methods are used to identify members of the M. tuberculosis complex, but identification of the non-tuberculosis mycobacteria requires the assessment of phenotypic traits, including colony morphology and growth rate. These traditional methods can prolong the time to diagnosis, since the preparation of one or more subcultures is often necessary for a species level identification. Further, the interpretation of phenotypic characteristics is often subjective, requiring significant experience and training for accurate identification. When these traditional methods are unable to identify an organism, sequencing may be performed, but this often results in long turnaround times and adds significant expense.

FACILITY (BSL-3 LABORATORY)

As other developing countries, India also facing formidable challenges in safe and well equipped diagnosing facilities for infectious diseases. Especially for viral detection and infectious diseases, there is an urgent need for having biosafety level-3 facility in different part of country, to prevent healthcare workers as well as to prevent the environmental contamination.
Acu-MDx had filled up this deficiency of BSL-3 facility in western Rajasthan by developing an exclusive and novel BSL-3 laboratory for diagnostic and with dedication towards virology. According to the ICMR guidelines our state of art facility is full filling all four key elements of BSL-3 facility. i.e.
(i) Biorisk assessment
(ii) Specialized physical, engineering infrastructure and environment
(iii) Safety equipment
(iv) Training of human resource for special practices
With this facility setup and equipment’s, we can provide services with maintaining good laboratory practices.

TECHNOLOGY

RTPCR : Real time PCR (quantitative PCR, qPCR) is now a well-established method for the detection, quantification, and typing of different microbial agents in the areas of clinical and veterinary diagnostics and food safety. Although the concept of PCR is relatively simple, there are specific issues in qPCR that developers and users of this technology. These include the use of correct terminology and definitions, understanding of the principle of PCR, difficulties with interpretation and presentation of data, the limitations of qPCR in different areas of microbial diagnostics and parameters important for the description of qPCR performance.
During Global Pandemic, rt PCR test has been proven as Gold Standard Technique. We, Acu-MDx has done more than 10 lacs tests for Covid-19 throughout the country.

MALDI-TOF : There are now commercially available Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) platforms that are capable of identifying organisms more quickly, more cheaply, and with more specificity than has previously been possible. This technology can identify gram-positive, gram-negative, aerobic and anaerobic bacteria as well as mycobacteria, yeast, and moulds, typically at the species level, with accuracy as good as and often better than traditional methods when compared to sequencing. The method is also more reliable than traditional and molecular methods for microorganism identification. Exceptions to this are species not included in the database and species that are inherently similar to one another. Due to the small amount of biomass that is required, testing can often be performed from the primary culture, as long as a single well-isolated colony is available. Sample preparation is relatively simple, and analysis of forty or more samples is possible within an hour.
Further, a prior knowledge of the type of organism being tested is not required, thus allowing both highly experienced and less experienced microbiologists to perform the testing. This contributes to a reduction in the time to identification by at least one day for any microorganism!