Clever Culture Systems has announced the first APAS Independence placement into a UK laboratory, at the Health Services Laboratory (HSL), a state-of-the-art facility located within the Halo building, part of London’s life sciences hub, MedCity.
The laboratory is a clinically-led provider of pathology and diagnostic services, with the purpose of delivering innovation and value to healthcare. Set up as a partnership between The Doctors Laboratory, the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the laboratory combines academic excellence with industry-leading workflow efficiency. HSL will undergo a clinical evaluation of the APAS technology to assess the utility of the instrument and its potential for integration as part of an automated culture plate workflow.
The APAS Independence will be installed alongside the laboratory’s existing automation solutions, using the MRSA analysis module to identify negative culture plates as part of the antimicrobial resistance surveillance programme.
Following initial training, the evaluation is expected to be conducted over a three-month period. Installation of the APAS instrument was completed by the company’s recently appointed service provider, oneservice AG. Clever Culture Systems (a joint venture between LBT Innovations and Andreas Hettich) worked closely both with the oneservice and HSL teams to support the installation and conduct instrument training remotely. The process was completed successfully, with the APAS Independence fully operational within two days, demonstrating the ease with which the APAS Independence can be installed and commissioned, and this will provide a blueprint to follow for future customer evaluations.