The LifeScale-AST is designed for rapid antimocrobial susceptibility testing direct from positive blood cultures. The instrument is designed to fit within the existing clinical workflow and gives an MIC result for Gram-neagtive rods in 4 hours. SIR interpretive results are available once a micro-organism identification is available. Samples are prepared in the same manner as samples for the "reference method" using standard broth dilution techniques. A simple centrifuge step is added in order to remove red blood cells. The instrument operates with a custom well plate.
The LifeScale-R allows for cell counting, mass measurement, and visual observation of liquid samples. Individual particles, cells and organisms can be detected down to 1fg in liquids with 1% precision. LifeScale is being used for rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing yielding results in under three hours. LifeScale has an integrated video microscope that records everything that passes through the sensor. This video information, in addition to LifeScale's standard mass and count information, may be used for instance to confirm sample morphology.