WASPLab^®

More than just automation… It’s about your uniqueness

How does your lab achieve top productivity while ensuring irreproachable quality? The answer is your way. WASPLab^® empowered by bioMérieux is the flexible automated specimen processing and reading solution that adapts to your unique lab setup and workflow. Modular and scalable, you choose the features and options that offer the best added value for you – and you can always add more later to boost efficiency even further.

Exclusive services by bioMérieux include ensuring simple deployment – we’re by your side every step of the way  – and bioMérieux lab consultancy services to optimize integration and adoption. When empowered by bioMérieux with this end-to-end microbiology expertise and support, WASPLab^® offers unbeatable efficiency and continuous innovation.

Empowered by bioMérieux advantage

Complete services for personalized for flexible solutions

Integrating WASPLab^® is a critical step in meeting new, ever-growing productivity and quality challenges. When you select WASPLab^® empowered by bioMérieux, you just get an automated lab solution, you get a team from start to finish. We work with you to gain a global vision of your needs and develop ­ flexible solutions. Our commitment? To be by your side to create custom-fit solutions covering the three key parameters for laboratory performance: people, process and technology.

Incorporating WASPLab^® empowered by bioMérieux

It’s all about your uniqueness. When you incorporate WASPLab^® into your lab, you’ll benefit from a personalized approach to ensure top productivity and quality. We co-design with you your offer and ensure a coordinated, inclusive process. We always bring in the right skills at the right moment to account for your needs with realistic timelines and planning.

• Dedicated bioMérieux project manager onsite to collaborate in all steps
• Interaction with all stakeholders to account for all perspectives and needs
• Joint planning for implementation of new processes
• Physical implantation of the systems in your laboratory
• Recommendations and training to ensure regulatory constraints are met

Integrated solutions from inoculation to ID/AST result

WASPLab^® empowered by bioMérieux is part of our approach to meeting the complete needs of the microbiology lab – taking you from automated sample preparation right through to ID/AST result. The new Colibrí™ module offers automated colony picking on MALDI-TOF ID targets and automated suspension preparation for AST. The new PhenoMATRIX™ solution offers artificial intelligence for rules-based sorting to let you focus on plates of clinical interest (see more under the modules tab). You gain streamlined, efficient workflow through full integration with our identification and susceptibility (ID/AST) and blood culture offers, using instruments and reagents, including CHROMID^®, VITEK^® 2 and VITEK^® MS.

bioMérieux Lab Consultancy services (see below for more) are also part of this – because, as we like to say, “The human touch is the most important part of technology”. With WASPLab^® empowered by bioMérieux, our Lab Consultancy services are always available to you to help you and your lab team make the most of the installed technology and above all, your top 

skills. The ultimate value is to ensure you can leverage your expertise for test results that impact timely, appropriate patient therapy.

Modules to adapt to you

Ready to discover some of the most powerful modules available with WASPLab^® empowered by bioMérieux? Click on the “Modules” tab above to learn about these modules:

• WASP^®
• WASPLab^® smart incubators
• Exclusive imaging analysis
• NEW PhenoMATRIX™: Boosting the value of algorithms
• NEW Colibrí™ standardized picking

WASP^®

We adapt to you. You don’t have to adapt to us.

The heart of your WASPLab^® system is WASP^® (Walk-Away Specimen Processor). Agile and flexible with a unique open-platform, modular system, WASP^® addresses all aspects of automated pre-analytic microbiology specimen processing. WASP^® fits into your lab and lets you pick and mix the automation add-ons you need – we adapt to you, you don’t have to adapt to us!

Time savings

• Redeploy skilled staff: high autonomy, requires less user intervention
• High productivity (24/7 operation possible)

Cost savings

• Limited number of consumables
• Start with only what you need; modular options to grow with your needs

Safety & quality

• High standardization and traceability
• Safety for the specimen and the user with individual specimen management,
• Hepa ­ filter and camera control

WASPLab^® smart incubators

Plate management that frees technician time

Intelligent plate management takes over repetitive tasks to free technicians up for value-added activities. WASPLab^® Smart Incubators automate entire incubation and imaging phases, according to your protocols. Excellent thermal conductivity means optimal temperature and atmospheric conditions are reached rapidly. Uniform and stable controlled conditions ensure better colony growth. This means faster turnaround times and delivery of results.

• 2 sizes storage capacity to fit flexibly into your lab:
• Single incubator for 795 plates
• Double for 1,590 plates
• Switch between CO2 and O2 according to your needs
• Safety: Barcode-based individual plate position
• Time savings: Random access retrieval of individual plates
• Sanitary: Shelves are easily removed for autoclaving

Exclusive imaging analysis

More than the eye can see

The WASPLab^® image acquisition technology uses a highly sophisticated lighting and camera system to make each plate image clear, undistorted and accurate.  It’s like using a plate microscope with every plate, so you can reliably make accurate work-up decisions.

High resolution and microscopic zoom

The WASPLab^® camera optics makes all colony views crystal clear, no matter the agar thickness. It has a resolution of 48 megapixels and a microscopic zoom up to 13 times, so colonies even smaller than 0.1 mm are visible. This larger-than-life image can help you detect growth not seen by naked eye on the actual plate.

Three Lighting Systems to Collect Optimal Plate Images

The WASPLab^® Image Acquisition system uses different lighting for image acquisition depending on the media color or opacity.

• Top light with background for use with transparent agar simulating bench view
• Top light no background for use with opaque agar simulating bench view
• Bottom light no background to simulate holding a plate to the light to see hemolysis

PhenoMATRIX™: Boosting the value of algorithms

PhenoMatrix™ is a new expert module exclusive to WASPLab^® that automatically recognizes microorganisms through 

advanced Arti­ficial Intelligence (AI). You define your own rules to read, interpret, and sort bacterial cultures with the click of a button. PhenoMATRIX™ consolidates information from all algorithms, the Laboratory Information System (LIS), and the clinical context. The software pushes a real final result to the LIS.

User-defined expert rules, filter outputs and reporting

PhenoMATRIX™ applies your laboratory’s personalized rules to algorithm results combined with demographic information/clinical context from LIS record, to provide a higher level of culture sorting. This is used to alert the operator when a particular culture needs additional scrutiny. It also provides an additional ­ filter for standard report outputs.

Growth/No Growth

Evaluate the growth on media plate through differential analysis of a post-processing image compared to a True Time-Zero (TT0) image

• Recognize and enumerate the growth of colonies and biomass
• Results displayed are linked to a cut-off of number of colonies
• Cut-off is set up based on the customer cut-off (from 1 to X colonies)

Chromogenic Detection Module

Establish the presence of determined suspect bacteria on chromogenic media plates (for example MRSA, VRE, etc.)

• Recognition of colors on single media plate
• Applicable for both monochromatic and polychromatic media
• Positivity of the plate linked to the presence of one or several different colors

Game of Chromes

Sum of Growth/No Growth (G/NG) and Color Detection Module (CdM).

• Identify several colors and evaluate the enumeration
• Linked to the species (and colors) defined in the package insert of the medium

PhenoMATRIX™ redefines interpretation efficiency…

Time Savings

• Overall efficiency: More samples treated faster without additional staffing
• Earlier growth detection
• Less plate reading time through automated sorting

Optimum Quality & Safety

• Safe decision with expert system
• Never touch a negative plate
• Focus on plate with clinical interest: Algorithms improve sensitivity and specificity
• Improved bacterial growth through defined, uninterrupted incubation times

Increased Reproducibility & Traceability

• No variability of human interpretation
• Bi-directional connection with LIS for traceability

Colibrí™ automated colony picking module

Are skilled technicians in your lab spending too much time on picking? Now, with Colibrí™, you can automate and standardize picking for integration with ID/AST – saving time and improving quality of results. Colibrí™ picks colonies based on digital coordinates specified by the WASPLab^® imaging system.

Traceability and standardization

• Full traceability throughout ID/AST sample preparation for testing with bioMérieux’s VITEK^® solutions:
  
  • Sample position and target data sent directly to VITEK^® MS for ID
  • Colony picking for VITEK^® 2 suspension preparation for AST
• Fully integrated VITEK^® solutions: Quality and standardization

Accuracy

• Three cameras and a laser for accurate detection of colony positions and dimensions
• Repeatability and reliability through automation

Efficiency

• Only when empowered by bioMérieux: Unique integration of Colibrí™ with VITEK^® solutions and CHROMID^® chromogenic media
• Focus on samples requiring expert attention