All of humankind’s destructive technologies are no match for nature’s microscopic killers – bacteria. These invisible “bugs” manage to kill several million people a year. Of course, not all bacteria are killers…many are very useful. In fact, there are ten times as many bacterial cells in your body as there are human cells. Many of these bacteria are vital to the life process.
Bacteria weren’t even known to exist until they were discovered in 1676 by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, who observed them using a magnifying lens of his own design. And it wasn’t until 200 years later that the work Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch helped solidify the idea that such germs could be the cause of disease.
Since that time, science made great strides, resulting in an arsenal of chemical and other ‘weaponry’ to combat the worst bacteria. The relatively small number of dangerous bacteria continue to challenge our technologies and their application. The key is detection of harmful bacteria. Most current methods involve taking a sample and sending it off to a laboratory where it is analyzed by scientists. This is a very time-consuming and costly method.
Giant global pharmaceutical companies remain the biggest players in the war against bacteria. However, one of the most unique breakthroughs in the science of bacterial detection and identification belongs to a small but up-and-coming company out of San Clemente, California called Micro Identification Technologies (OTCBB: MMTC).
Micro Identification Technologies has developed a way to identify 23 different species of pathogenic bacteria, only minutes after completed culturing. It’s all done by laser light that is scattered off bacteria cells suspended in water, creating light patterns that are unique for each species of bacteria. The company’s proprietary software quickly analyzes the patterns to come up with a determination.
In addition, because the required sample is so small, the culturing time itself is cut in half. The bottom line is much faster processing, at a tiny fraction of the normal cost. One would think this will result in a lot of business in the years to come for Micro Identification Technologies.
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