Tracking Multiresistant Pathogens

Tracking Multiresistant Pathogens

The Zeltwanger Automation GmbH has built a spot system that, for the first time, enables a rapid diagnostic test for multi-resistant germs. The system, which was constructed on behalf of Curetis AG, handles a dosing head that can bring 49 substances onto an array and fix them for the diagnostic process. For precise handling in cleanroom conditions, Zeltwanger contributed its manufacturing expertise as a system integrator and transformed an development project into a series production. The UnyveroTM diagnostic systems from Curetis finally make possible what hospitals have been eagerly waiting for.

"With the spot system, Curetis manufactures arrays for cartridges used in in-vitro diagnostics. This allows hospital laboratories to perform a rapid test for so-called hospital germs on-site in the future," emphasizes Ralph Heckmann, Sales Manager of Zeltwanger Automation GmbH. For Curetis AG, the experts at Zeltwanger planned, designed, and built an array printing manufacturing system as a system integrator. "The challenge was to turn a development project, which works in the lab, into a practical product for series production at Curetis," Heckmann describes the challenge. With the Curetis cartridge and the Unyvero(TM) system, hospital laboratories can detect multi-resistant germs themselves within four hours. The previous testing in culture-based microbiology takes several days.

Certainty in Four Hours

The core of the array production system built by Zeltwanger is the dosing head, which was contributed by another German system partner. This brings 49 finely dosed DNA sequences onto a tiny membrane array without contact, in the pico- or nanoliter range. Since these are fluids that must not mix, they must always be in a uniform viscosity. Additionally, a special carrier material is used, whose composition Zeltwanger prefers not to disclose. The microdosing and testing process takes place under cleanroom conditions, with strictly controlled temperature and humidity, and must be handled precisely—not only technically but also on the software side.

The challenge for Zeltwanger was to combine the special environment in the chambers, laminar flow, and precise handling. Heckmann modestly states, "We understand the spot process without building it ourselves." What emerged as a series product in terms of capacity, speed, and performance is revolutionary, as one observer remarked. With this, Zeltwanger Automation GmbH has once again demonstrated its exceptional position as a specialist in the industrialization of laboratory processes.

Image: Zeltwanger Automation GmbH has built a spot system that, for the first time, enables a rapid diagnostic test for multi-resistant germs. Image © (c)opyright Zeltwanger