David Jones, Rapid Micro Biosystems, provided an overview of currently available RMM technologies that can be used for environmental monitoring. These included real-time active air monitoring systems based on optical spectroscopy, flow cytometry, solid phase cytometry, ATP bioluminescence, and direct autofluorescence of actively growing microbial colonies.
They also evaluated the efficiency of microbial recovery in the Growth Direct system during active air sampling and surface sampling. They captured samples on membranes that were subsequently transferred to Growth Direct agar cassettes, and the recovered counts were compared with conventional air sampling methods and Rodac plates. The recovery in both the RMM and the conventional methods were comparable.