Market-Leading Contamination Control Products and Clinical Diagnostic Kits

Cambio is the exclusive UK distributor of Minerva Biolabs products for detecting, eliminating and preventing cell culture contamination and identifying Legionella in water samples. A range of clinical diagnostic kits focusing on detection of pathogenic bacteria (including MRSA, chlamydia, bordetella, and some responsible for causing pneumonia) is also available.

The incidence and effects of contaminating mycoplasma, bacteria and viruses in cell cultures are frequently underestimated when there are no visible changes, such as turbidity. Rapid and reliable detection of contamination can now be achieved using Minerva Biolabs products. Based on PCR technology, Venor®GeM, Venor®GeM OneStep and Venor®GeM Advance kits provide highly sensitive, specific and reliable identification of more than 79 mycoplasma species. Regular screening of cultures is vital in order to detect contamination, which causes non-reproducible results in research and productivity losses of up to 50% in industry. Quantitative detection of mycoplasma can be achieved with the qPCR kit. Contamination control products include Zellshield, a powerful combination of antimicrobials which protects cultures against contamination, Mynox®, which eliminates mycoplasmas without affecting the cells in any way, and new Mycoplasma- Off® Wipes – the simple solution for cleaning and disinfecting a variety of laboratory surfaces.

Cambio offers clinical diagnostic kits from Minerva Biolabs for fast, accurate in vitro diagnosis of MRSA, whooping cough, Legionnaires’ disease, syphilis, chlamydia infection, and pneumonia caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae. Kits contain all the required reagents including the polymerase, which is provided freeze-dried for long-term stability. Utilising highly sensitive qPCR technology, these kits permit early identification of clinically significant infections, overcoming disadvantages such as insensitivity, delayed detection and poor specificity which may be associated with methods based on culture and serology.

The Onar®MRSA is a one-step triplex test system, CE-marked and approved for in vitro clinical diagnostics. The convenient master mix format requires only a few pipetting steps and reliable results are obtained within two to three hours.

The AquaScreen® in vitro test system provides qualitative and/or quantitative detection of the water pathogens Legionella spp. and Legionella pneumoniae. Results are obtained within 6–8 hours with high specificity, minimising the risk of false positive results and enabling rapid detection of the bacteria responsible for life-threatening outbreaks of Legionnaires’ Disease.