IVF Hygiene Monitoring

It is accepted that IVF lab surfaces should be properly cleaned but assessing that a surface is clean is difficult. Visual assessment is not effective and traditional methods of testing cleaning effectiveness such as microbiological analysis take days to determine whether a surface is clean. The delay in correcting a failed microbiological analysis could allow the bacteria  to spread and lead to further contamination. Traditional tests only detect the number of viable bacteria present but fluids, such as blood, would not be detected.

Why use the Lightning MVP?

The Lightning MVP, exclusively from Research Instruments, provides both fast and accurate analysis of surface cleanliness. The system uses ATP bioluminescence to detect all organic matter including bacteria to give a more accurate indication of surface cleanliness.

How is it used?

Simply swab a 4 inch / 10cm square of surface with the special single use disposable swab. Press the swab plunger to release the enzyme and then place the entire swab inside the lightning MVP. Ten seconds later you will have a pass, warning or fail result.

How does it work?

Light is emitted, through Bioluminescence, when luciferase and luciferin contained in the surface swab come into contact with the molecule ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which is present in all living organisms. ATP bioluminescence is measured by the light sensitive Lightning MVP luminometer to reveal the presence of microbes (which contain ATP) on the test surface. The result will be an emission of light that is directly proportionate to the amount of ATP present in the sample.

Validation

The correlation between microbiological analysis and ATP bioluminescence has been validated.

Trend Analysis

Test results stored in the MVP instrument may be easily downloaded to a personal computer for analysis and printing. With the included MVP TRAX software users can sort and view results from individual quality indicators. Additionally TRAX can analyze and integrate data from multiple indicators which allows users to monitor the effectiveness of cleaning standards.