This extended range will cover all 'The Big Six' strains of non-O157 Shiga-toxin producing E. coli (STECs) now highlighted by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as unacceptable in raw beef products: E.coli strains O26, O103, O45, O111, O121 and O145.

Captivate™ accelerates the isolation of micro-organisms, primarily from food and environmental samples. Captivate™ particles consist of a magnetite core enveloped by a ceramic zirconium oxide coating, to which carefully selected and purified antibodies to surface components of the target micro-organism are covalently coupled.

When mixed and incubated with a sample suspension, the antibody-coated beads 'capture' the target bacteria by forming an antibody-antigen complex. These complexes are separated from any background organisms or interfering materials using a magnetic concentrator. The beads can then be plated to the appropriate selective media or used in other analyses following a straightforward wash procedure.

IMS increases the sensitivity of the isolation methodology and in most circumstances results are achieved 24 hours earlier than using standard protocols. As well as the ready-made Captivate™ range, Lab M provides a custom coating service and Captivate™ can also serve as a capture system for rapid detection systems.

For information visit: www.labm.com