Open AccessA smart device application for the automated determination of E. coli colonies on agar plates
Author(s) -
Austerjost Jonas,
Marquard Daniel,
Raddatz Lukas,
Geier Dominik,
Becker Thomas,
Scheper Thomas,
Lindner Patrick,
Beutel Sascha
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
engineering in life sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.547
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1618-2863
pISSN - 1618-0240
DOI - 10.1002/elsc.201700056
Subject(s) - automation , laboratory automation , bacterial colony , sample (material) , throughput , computer hardware , computer science , process (computing) , agar gel , counting process , embedded system , real time computing , artificial intelligence , engineering , biology , mathematics , operating system , chromatography , mechanical engineering , statistics , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , bacteria , wireless , genetics
The manual counting of colonies on agar plates to estimate the number of viable organisms (so‐called colony‐forming units–CFUs) in a defined sample is a commonly used method in microbiological laboratories. The automation of this arduous and time‐consuming process through benchtop devices with integrated image processing capability addresses the need for faster and higher sample throughput and more accuracy. While benchtop colony counter solutions are often bulky and expensive, we investigated a cost‐effective way to automate the colony counting process with smart devices using their inbuilt camera features and a server‐based image processing algorithm. The performance of the developed solution is compared to a commercially available smartphone colony counter app and the manual counts of two scientists trained in biological experiments. The comparisons show a high accuracy of the presented system and demonstrate the potential of smart devices to displace well‐established laboratory equipment.