Bruker Introduces New Clinical Microbiology Assays and Kits at ECCMID

Bruker is introducing new clinical microbiology assays and consumables kits to further enhance the MALDI Biotyper (MBT) platform at the 27th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Bruker will also introduce novel, real-time PCR assays and kits for fast molecular testing of invasive aspergillosis and carbapenem resistance.

The MBT STAR-Carba IVD kit expands the MALDI Biotyper workflow to additional fast functional testing of resistance against selected antibiotics of clinical relevance. The MBT STAR-Carba IVD kit is the first validated diagnostic assay for mass spectrometry-based resistance testing on the market. The MBT STAR-Carba IVD assay is testing against carbapenem-resistance in Gram-negative bacteria. The MBT STAR-Carba IVD Kit and Software Module for the automated data interpretation are labeled according to EU directive EC/98/79.

Bruker is also announcing enhancements for routine MALDI Biotyper microbiology fast identification workflows, including a MBT Mycobacteria IVD Library and Software Module, labeled according to EU directive EC/98/79. The new library covers 164 out of currently 180 described mycobacteria species.

For research use only, Bruker is further broadening its application portfolio of the MBT Subtyping Module. This MALDI subtyping module enables the automated differentiation between Mycobacterium chimaera and Mycobacterium intracellulare, and between the pathogenic Listeria monocytogenes and other Listeria species.

"I am impressed by the continuous innovations that Bruker offers on the MALDI Biotyper platform. The new diagnostic MBT STAR-Carba IVD assay is of significant clinical relevance, because carbapenemase producing bacteria are a growing healthcare concern and rapid, functional analysis is very important," Professor Dr. Sören Schubert from the Max-von-Pettenkofer Institute at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany said. "This novel assay for rapid resistance testing for selected antibiotics can be run on the same MALDI Biotyper platform which has been successfully used for identification of bacteria and fungi in the microbiological lab.  This is yet another milestone for the broad introduction of MALDI-TOF technology into clinical routine microbiology."

The new Fungiplex Aspergillus multiplex, real-time PCR assay in less than 2 hours from extraction identifies the most common pathogens associated with invasive aspergillosis. For this assay, DNA can be extracted from whole blood, serum, plasma and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), so that the Fungiplex Aspergillus assay can support clinicians in providing an earlier diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis in order to improve patient outcomes, or alternatively reduce the cost of unnecessary anti-fungal drugs.