Dr. Flora and Zip Journey Through PhenoMATRIX™

A day in life of the Microbiology laboratory can be hectic, especially now with labor shortages and larger workloads. COPAN’s PhenoMATRIX™ is a sophisticated suite of algorithms aimed at aiding laboratories by automating some of the reading of traditional cultures.  PhenoMATRIX™, using Artificial Intelligence, speeds up the time to reporting by allowing the Microbiology laboratory to automatically sort out negative plates and to read, interpret and segregate bacterial cultures with the click of a button! To illustrate the powerful impact PhenoMATRIX™ has on both laboratory workflow and patient care, Dr. Norma Flora and Zip the Robot Boy, come to life in this brand new animated film!

Although the math behind these incredible algorithms is highly complex, the understanding of what they do and how they work should not be. That’s why Dr. Flora and Zip the Robot Boy are here to help. The video takes viewers through an exciting and informative overview of the PhenoMATRIX™ and provides insight into its application in the lab!

In the film, the relatable Dr. Flora and Zip the Robot Boy explain the algorithms and define the role of Artificial Intelligence as it relays to Digital Microbiology and Image Analysis. The animated pair break down the algorithms into four groups: a) chromogenic detection; b) colony counting with growth, no growth discrimination; c) phenotypic colony recognition; and d) application of expert rules. A brief explanation of each can be found below.

Chromogenic Detection Module
Automatically detects and differentiates organisms based on color recognition on any manufacturer’s chromogenic agar for fast results.

Urine Culture Segregation Based on Colony Counts with Growth, No Growth Discrimination
Customizable user defined thresholds for growth/no growth colony counts for faster urine culture reading.

Automatic Colony Recognition on Standard Culture Plates
Recognizes bacterial colonies by comparison against its massive phenotypic database to standardize the interpretation of bacterial cultures and optimize workflow efficiency.

Application of User-Defined Expert Rules Filter
Applies each laboratory’s personalized rules combined with demographic information from a patient’s LIS record for a higher level of culture segregation providing an additional filter for standard report outputs.

It would be easy to go on and write about the praises of these groundbreaking tools, but the benefits are much more fun to watch in our newest video!  Check it out here and let us know what you think.

An additional video will be available soon.  The next video installment will go into greater detail on how to use the software. Stay tuned for more, but for now, don’t forget to join Dr. Norma Flora and Zip the Robot Boy on their PhenoMATRIX™ exploration by clicking HERE!