ANOXOMAT-III from HiMedia Laboratories Pvt Ltd.

Bacteria as a species are truly diverse, especially in terms of oxygen tolerance. There are many classes—-Obligate aerobes, microaerophiles, capnophiles, obligate anaerobes, and hypoxic. A significant number of major bacterial infections are caused by anaerobes. Anaerobes play a crucial role in diseases and medical diagnostics, environmental studies, fermentation, gut microbiome, and biofuel production. However, studying them presents unique challenges due to their sensitivity to oxygen.

They are cultivated using sealed anaerobic chambers, Gaspak systems with sachets, or Anoxomat. However, the anaerobic chamber is difficult to maintain in a resource-limited lab setting. The GasPak system cannot be disturbed once set or else the whole experiment will fail. Furthermore, these two techniques are tedious and slow for producing the required anaerobiosis. In the clinical environment, with a huge number of samples and less time, this whole process needs to be properly and reliably expedited. To address this issue, HiMedia and Advanced Instruments have collaborated and launched the state-of-the-art Anoxomat-III system.

What is an Anoxomat? The Anoxomat-III is a specialized, compact, and portable equipment with an integrated gas mixture control system used for the cultivation of all kinds of anaerobes. It creates a controlled anaerobic environment by removing oxygen from a sealed chamber and replacing it with a desired gas mixture, typically a combination of hydrogen and carbon-dioxide. The gas mixture can be adjusted and customized to grow capnophiles, and hypoxic bacteria.

The system also has accessories—-Standard and ergonomic jars of various sizes and functionalities (to accommodate tubes, flasks, 6 petri plates, 12 petri plates, 24 petri plates, 1 stack of 96-well micro-titer plates, 10-well plates). All these offer flexibility and scalability in experimental setups. It can connect to 4 jars at once.

The process and atmospheric customization. The process begins by placing the culture vessels with medium and samples inside the chamber.

The jar is then sealed, and a vacuum is created. Next, the desired gas mixture is introduced into the jar. The automated system repeats its evacuation/replacement cycle three times. The anaerobic environment is generated by a single-use disposable sachet with palladium catalyst Palladox™ that skips the heating step in the Gaspak system. The Anoxomat also checks the presence of this sachet whenever an anaerobic environment is needed. The jars can then be disconnected without any disturbance to the internal environment and then incubated. The atmosphere can be developed within 5 minutes against 5-6 hours required in traditional jar & gaspak system.

Using a desired combination of gas mixtures, intelligent software, and sensor technology, researchers can precisely adjust the oxygen concentration. This level of control ensures reliable and consistent growth of these cultures, leading to accurate results, lower incubation time, larger & denser colonies, higher recovery, and improved reproducibility. In terms of accuracy, you can eliminate chances of usual false negatives.

By minimizing oxygen exposure during sample handling, the system mitigates the risk of contamination and maintains consistent growth patterns of microorganisms. This consistency enables researchers to obtain accurate and comparable results.

Enhanced workflow efficiency. Anoxomat-III can streamline and optimize workflow efficiency. The system automates the process of creating customized atmospheric conditions, reducing manual manipulations, and saving valuable time. Researchers can set up their experiments quickly and easily, allowing them to focus more on data analysis and interpretation. Additionally, Anoxomat-III eliminates the need for frequent manual checks and disruptions to the interior environment. It is an economical choice that saves a lot of operational costs and reduces hazardous waste. An optional feature provided is a barcode scanner.

The Anoxomat-III is highly recommended for clinical diagnostics, microbiome research, and industrial microbiology. It facilitates elaborate investigations into physiology, metabolism, and pathogenicity of anaerobes.

All these salient features make Anoxomat-III an indispensable tool for scientists to study & research non-aerobic microorganisms.