Customer story
HUN-REN Veterinary Medical Research Institute
RESEARCH INSTITUTE, HUNGARY
Fast cell counts for hard-to-culture organisms
The challenge of the uncountable
Successful process development in biomanufacturing and microbiology depends on accurate process insights. Yet for many organisms, anaerobes, mycoplasmas, and other fastidious species, enumeration is one of the hardest tasks. Traditional culture-based methods can take days or even weeks, leaving researchers with little to guide them in real time.
Optical density (OD) is often used as a quicker alternative. However, OD is an indirect method that is prone to misleading results. A change in OD can come from cell morphology shifts, pigment production, or other media effects, rather than actual changes in cell number. This makes it exceedingly difficult to compare process conditions or build reliable growth models. In many cases, researchers are forced to develop processes while operating in the blind.
The HUN-REN research institute
At the HUN-REN Veterinary Medical Research Institute (Hungary), a research team led by Dr. Eszter Zsófia Nagy, Dr. Dénes Grózner, Dr. Zsuzsa Kreizinger, and Dr. Miklós Gyuranecz (MolliScience) faced exactly this challenge in their work on Mycoplasma anserisalpingitidis and Mycoplasma gallisepticum.
These organisms are notoriously small and difficult to quantify with conventional methods. The standard approach, CCU/mL (color-changing units per mL), requires weeks of culture before results become available. The team needed a faster, more trustworthy way to track growth.
The BactoBox® solution
By integrating BactoBox® into their workflow, the researchers were able to obtain direct bacterial cell counts (cells/mL) within minutes. As shown in Fig. 1, their study demonstrated a strong correlation between BactoBox® measurements and CCU/mL across the growth curve, effectively replacing weeks of waiting with near real-time results. Similar results were obtained for Mycoplasma anserisalpingitidis.
Figure 1: Growth curve of Mycoplasma gallisepticum showing strong correlation between BactoBox® cell counts (cells/mL) and conventional CCU/mL measurements across the growth phases.
Confidence in minutes, not weeks
The findings gave the HUN-REN team immediate, actionable insights into their microbial processes:
- Rapid feedback: Decisions could be made on the same day rather than weeks later.
- Reliable growth data: BactoBox® counts tracked consistently with traditional culture results.
- Clarity beyond OD: Unlike OD, which can fluctuate due to morphology changes, media conditions, or pigment effects, BactoBox® provided direct and trustworthy bacterial counts.
This meant their process development work could progress with much greater confidence and predictability.
We cut the
result time
from 2 weeks
to 3 minutes
Looking ahead
The HUN-REN Veterinary Medical Research Institute has now continued its research with BactoBox® as a key part of its workflow. At SBT Instruments, we believe microbial research should not be slowed down or distorted by the limitations of traditional enumeration methods. With BactoBox®, researchers gain the clarity they need to move faster, make better comparisons, and develop processes with confidence.
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