Scientists have developed a "smart" Petri dish, which takes pictures of growing colonies
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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Everyone knows the Petri dish practically has not changed since the beginning of its use in 1877 by the German bacteriologist Robert Koch and his assistant Julius Rihard Petri, in honor of which this glass vessel was named.
The use of modern medical technologies has made it possible to greatly modernize the Petri dish, which will enable microbiologists to save many hours of time spent looking closely at the growing material in a microscope.
Scientists have developed a new "smart" Petri dish, in which photosensors are installed, which will make video recordings and photographs of growing microorganisms and cell colonies in automatic mode.
"ePetri" completely eliminates the need for scientists to study the material under study under powerful optical microscopes, since the filming of all processes occurring on the "ePetri" covers the entire area of the glass vessel, and the resulting resolution exceeds the resolution of the optical microscope. A small size "ePetri" allows you to use it as an express analysis in mobile laboratories.
The camera's photosensor sensor is located at the bottom of the transparent vessel, which contains the test material. The light source is a smartphone with a screen that has LED lighting and is located on top of the tank. With the help of a special smartphone application, the control computer can increase the brightness of the illumination of the area of interest up to one cell or microorganism. He also manages the work of the incubator, which allows preserving samples of biomaterial and fixing the process of its growth in time.
The idea of developing "ePetri" belongs to the team of Changuei Yang from the University of California.