Dermatology Center Rapidly Tests New Antimicrobials

Microbiologists are rapidly processing samples containing microorganisms taken from patients being treated for skin infections. The results of their tests are used to determine which treatments are most effective at reducing the number of microorganisms associated with the skin diseases of clinical trial subjects.

The Skin Research Centre (SRC) at the University of Leeds (Leeds, UK), one of Europe's leading dermatology centers, is using two pieces of equipment available from Don Whitley Scientific (DWS; West Yorkshire, UK) to rapidly test the effectiveness of new antimicrobial therapies to treat acne, dermatitis, and other skin diseases. The Whitley automated spiral platter (WASP) and the ProtoCol colony counter rapidly process samples containing microorganisms taken from patients being treated with antimicrobial drugs and topical therapies. The resultant plate counts are then used to determine the most effective treatments.

Collette Lindley, research assistant at the SRC stated: "Our validated methods for clinical trials require a large throughput of growth media types and dilution replicates with up to 16 spiral plates for each subject for each study visit. As studies can involve five study visits for up to 100 subjects over a 12-week period, we require a robust and reliable automated system for plate counts. In addition to spiral plates for clinical studies, we also use pour plates and filtration membranes in our in vitro studies.”

"We routinely enumerate skin microorganisms such as Staphylococcus spp, Propionibacterium spp, and Malassezia spp., and we also test products using Escherichia coli, Enterococcus spp, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans. Consequently, we use a variety of media types and the WASP and ProtoCOL from DWS provide us with the level of flexibility, speed and traceability that we require for our accredited work.”

Ms. Lindley continued, "As a UKAS [United Kingdom Accreditation Service]-accredited laboratory we are very conscious of issues of data quality. Our clinical trial data is also subject to audit by regulatory authorities at any time. Therefore, we need GLP [Good Laboratory Practices]-compliant electronic records to support our paper information and the ProtoCol makes it really easy to do this.”


Related Links:
Skin Research Centre at the University of Leeds
Don Whitley Scientific