The modern clinical microbiology is looking for quicker and more efficient methods for the identification of pathogenic germs. Currently, bacteria or fungi have to be grown over night on appropriate culture media followed by a reliable identification proceeding. This is an unconditional requirement in order to induce a corresponding therapy.

A new method for the determination of pathogenic germs was developed using MALDI-TOF mass spectromety. Instead of traditional sample preparation (over night growing of the bacteria on standard Agar plates), the bacteria were seperated directly from blood samples and transfered to the MALDI-TOF target. The entire procedure was only two hours, from the sample drawing to the final result (identification).
Details of the different methods are patent pending and will be published later on.

The R&D project was carried out from 01.07.2005 to 31.03.2007, the financial support was given by the Minesterium für Wirtschaft des Landes Brandenburg and the European Commission (EFRE).