FREDERICK, Md., August 13 -- Oxoid GmbH, a German supplier of microbial growth media, is using a ProtoCOL integrated charge-coupled device (CCD) camera and software system in its quality control laboratories to produce more accurate results with a variety of its media. PORTRAIT OF A MICROORGANISM: Salmonella typhimurium on a DCA agar plate. DCA agar is a culture medium used to detect and enumerate bacteria and other micro-organisms in clinical, food and environmental samples. (Photo courtesy of Conny Mallach, head of microbiology, Oxoid GmBH). The company said it is using the system, manufactured by Synbiosis, of Frederick, Md., in quality control procedures for about 200 types of media with 60 different microorganisms; it said the system can capture a plate image, while its software automatically compensates for different-colored media and agar thickness, to produce a count in seconds. Conny Mallach, head of microbiology at Oxoid, said, "We use the ProtoCOL to test over 100 plates per day for microbial recovery rates. We do this by plating out a defined number of microorganisms onto spiral or spread plates and then counting how many actually grow. This way we can see how well each batch of media performs." For more information, visit: www.synbiosis.com