News 

Selectrol^®: New - Salmonella Nottingham (16:d:enz15) NCTC 7832

We are pleased to announce the addition of Salmonella nottingham NCTC7832 to the Selectrol^® range.

Salmonella nottingham is recommended by the HPA as the positive control in the detection of Salmonella species. Salmonella nottingham NCTC7832 is now recommended as a result of increased prevalence of the previously recommended Salmonella poona species in food samples.

Selectrol^® is a convenient source of viable micro-organisms which can be used for a variety of quality control and testing applications that are guaranteed to be a first generation derivative of the original NCTC strain.

For more information and full strain listing please click here.

Selectrol^® batches are tested for a wide range of identification and characterisation attributes in our UKAS accredited testing laboratory, number 2496. A test report for each batch of Selectrol^® is available via this website.

The reporting of the test results via the web forms part of the UKAS accredited system.

Selectrol discs are manufactured exclusively from NCTC (NATIONAL COLLECTION OF TYPE CULTURES) and NCPF (NATIONAL COLLECTION OF PATHOGENIC FUNGI) cultures and are guaranteed first generation derivatives from the source strain.

Small print: NCTC and the National Collection of Type Cultures are trade marks of the Health Protection Agency.

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Bubble Buster

Due to difficulties obtaining reliable supplies, we are no longer able to offer the Bubble Buster product.  Consequently this product has been removed from this web site and our online catalogue.

We apologise for any inconvenience.

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New to the TCS Product Range - BioBall™

Selectrol^®, our qualitative range of standard microbes is now complimented by BioBall™ (BTF pty.) a quantitative control standard containing precise number of colony forming units.

BioBall™ contains a precise number of bacteria in a water-soluble ball delivering unprecedented accuracy in quantitative microbiological quality control.

BioBall™ is the most precise microbiological reference material available and is very easy to use. It requires no preparation or pre-incubation. It can be added directly to media or matrix samples.

BioBall™ products are freeze-dried and must be stored frozen. The shelf life is 1-2 years depending on the strain purchased.

Quality Control:

Standard product specification is a mean of 28-33 cfu with a standard deviation of less than 3. Also available is a 10,000 cfu BioBall™ which has a standard deviation of 20%.

Each batch of BioBall™ is quality controlled by testing a minimum of 10% of the batch up to a maximum of 50. Vials are selected at random; each standard batch of BioBall™ meets the following criteria:

Where the standard deviation is a measure of the batch variability and the mean is the average cfu count tested on non-selective agar.

Applications:

• Method validation
• Quantitative Quality Control
• Accreditation compliance
• Multi-laboratory standardisation
• Measurement of uncertainty

The BioBall™ strain list is constantly being updated. To ensure that you have the most up to date listing visit the BioBall product page or alternatively send an e-mail to bioball@tcsgroup.co.uk to join our Strain Alert System. We will email you details of new strains as they become available and issue an up-to-date product list.

BioBall™ MultiShot 550 is now available.

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New Product: Isolate Cryptosporidium IMS

Until recently, the manual immunomagnetic separation (IMS) procedure was the only step in the DWI approved Cryptosporidium method which had not been improved. TCS Water Sciences has now developed a semi automated IMS system, Isolate^®, based on a kit developed by ImmuCell Corporation, USA.

Isolate^® is a unique product offering semi automated immunomagnetic separation (IMS) of Cryptosporidium oocysts in environmental water samples. Isolate^® is able to process pellets of up to 2 ml in volume, significantly reducing the need for split samples, and yields good recoveries even in dirty water samples. The automation of the Isolate^® test standardises the rocking motion, eliminating human error and achieving improved consistency and reliability of results.

Cryptosporidium oocysts in the concentrate are captured and separated by magnetic action. Separated oocysts are stained with an approved FITC antibody stain, and visualised by fluorescence microscopy.

TCS Water Sciences compliments the Isolate^® Cryptosporidium test by offering a range of high quality Cryptosporidium testing products; our expertise in the field of Cryptosporidium enables us to offer you technical support and advice. TCS offers exceptional levels of customer service to ensure you get what you want when you want it.

The following table shows the results of a study which compared the Isolate^® system with a manual IMS test. Isolate^® achieved considerably improved results with increased recovery of Cryptosporidium, and greater consistency, evidenced by the narrower data ranges. The results highlight the sensitivity of the manual method to operator technique and thus the superiority of automation.

Materials supplied by TCS Water Sciences:

• Isolate^® Cryptosporidium 100 Test Kit (ZAICS100)
• Isolate^® Rotator Disc and Hub (ZAICS2)
• Incu-Clip (ZAICS3), Magna-Clip (ZAICS4), Micro-Clip (ZAICS5)
• Dissociation Block (ZAICS8)
• Variable speed rotator (ZAICSI)
• Glass Leighton tubes (ZAICS6)

Visit the Isolate^® page

Download this article (pdf)

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15 Minute Cryptosporidium Antibody

New, from Cellabs, Cryptosporidium IFA 15 Minute stain.

High-definition monoclonal diagnostic test for rapid detection of Cryptosporidium oocysts in human faecal samples as well as water and sewage samples.

Cellabs are specialists in waterborne infections and are pleased to introduce this high performance diagnostic kit which enables the rapid detection of Cryptosporidium oocysts. The monoclonal antibody reacts specifically with the oocyst cell wall to give a clearly defined morphology, making accurate diagnosis possible.

No need for revalidation, DWI approved.

Download more information here (pdf)

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