Microbes in indoor air, such as bacteria, viruses and fungi, impact human health and food safety. Monitoring environments such as wastewater treatment, healthcare facilities and food processing plants are critical for maintaining public and occupational health.

Current methods for monitoring indoor air differ in their detection capabilities, can require specialist equipment which may be disruptive or cumbersome and lack standardization.

InBio has expanded Apollo’s capabilities beyond allergen and endotoxin sampling – to microbes! Offering user-friendly, quiet, long-duration sampling with a high flowrate, to provide a simple solution for sampling microbes in the air.

Scientists at InBio have collaborated with Dr. James Blaxland at Cardiff Metropolitan University, to investigate Apollo’s ability to capture airborne microbes. This project was supported by a Welsh Government SMART partnership award.

InBio is excited to share results from the project below. Get in touch for more information!

What Can Apollo Capture?

Apollo can sample high numbers of viable bacteria, including Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Listeria innocua, as well as the bacteriophage MS2. Collectively, these microorganisms have relevance within the food, healthcare and wastewater industries. This exciting data provides proof of principle that Apollo can sample airborne microorganisms.

Apollo was designed for user-friendly, long-duration air sampling within indoor environments. With that in mind, longer-duration Apollo bacterial sampling combined with quantitative PCR was tested and the results demonstrated increased bacteria collection per m³  as shown in the graph below.

Initial tests have also provided promising results for successful sampling of bacteria with long-duration environmental sampling (48-hour), within an open laboratory setting where microbial experiments are carried out.

Ongoing R&D – Let’s work together!

The outcomes of this project demonstrate Apollo’s ability to capture a range of airborne microbes, with a scientific publication in the works. InBio continues to  expand the range of microorganisms detected by Apollo, including viruses, fungi and spores.

Please get in touch if you have a microbial contamination problem and need a reliable sampling solution. If you are interested in using Apollo for this purpose, contact us, and let’s work together to develop Apollo as a solution for simple airborne microbial sampling.