Colin Booth, Vice President Science and Technology, Oxoid Ltd, Basingstoke, UK will be speaking at the Concept Heidelberg, "Environmental Monitoring – Compliant and Reasonable" course, being held in Copenhagen, Denmark from 18-19 May 2006.

During the event Colin will give a presentation on Isolator Monitoring using real-life examples. Isolators are now commonly used in microbiology laboratories to perform sterility testing. This session will cover issues such as where to site your isolator, the regulatory validation requirements, the practical issues of physical and biological validation and routine use.

In his second session, Colin will take an in depth look at every aspect of Air Monitoring. This will include the microbiological quality of air, the types of equipment available, regulatory requirements, how to choose sample locations, typical pharmaceutical flora and the frequency of monitoring in both sterile and non-sterile environments.

The final session given by Colin will focus on growth, isolation and identification of the micro-organisms collected in an environmental monitoring programme. He will guide delegates in their choice of culture media for good microbial growth, as well as covering identification of isolates, validation of methods, rapid identification techniques, recovery problems and the value that identification to DNA level can bring. In particular, this session focuses on how to get reliable, consistent results.

For further details of the course, whose other presenters are Mike Edgington, Edgington Associates, Sassenheim, The Netherlands and Dr Nigel Halls, NHC Nigel Halls Consulting, Chorleywood, UK please visit:

www.gmp-compliance.org/daten/training/ECA_Environ_Monitoring.pdf

For details of Oxoid’s products for use in pharmaceutical environmental monitoring programmes please speak to your local Oxoid representative, visit the Oxoid website or contact Val Kane, contact details are at the top of this page.