A colony counter is a laboratory instrument used to count colonies of bacteria or other microorganisms on plates.
Colony counters are ordinarily used in laboratories where bacteria colonies are grown for research. Growing bacterial colonies on the surface of a solid medium (usually laboratory contact plates) is a commonly used laboratory technique performed to obtain a genetically pure strain of bacteria (or other types of microorganism or cells). Colony counters are used to keep trace of the number of microorganism colonies growing on a plate. the All microorganisms within a colony are genetically identical because they descend from a single ancestor. The most used type of colony counters are the manual colony counters. They are composed by a lighted surface on which the colony plate are placed, and a special pen (a colony counting pen) which is used to mark the colonies on the superior surface of the plate. Automatic systems for colony counting have been developed and are used in laboratories: the automatic colony counters are able to identify and count dark spots on plates. However manual colony counters are still widely used for daily routine procedures in laboratories.
International PBI online catalogue offers a vast range of instruments and devices for microbiologial analysis, such as colony counting pens and viewers. Colony counting pen is an electronic colony counter, provided with a figure digital display, a sound alarm for end of count and reset button. The colony counter pen is ideal for use with “Petri-Light” and “Mini Light Box” viewers. Petri-viewers for colony counters are plexiglas rest surfaces with a graduation scale: they are used for inspecting plates and counting colonies as they provide an indirect, fluorescent lighting. They are also provided with a magnifying glass, which is adjustable for correct positioning (colony counting pen are not included).
Accessing the online catalogue, you can find all the technical and commercial information about colony counters, Petri-viewers for colony counters and other systems for automatic colony counting.
