GC Labs Introduces the Microbiology Total Laboratory Automation System for the First Time in Korea

Improving efficiency and accuracy for microbiology tests

YONGIN, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GC Labs (CEO Eun-hee Lee), the leading clinical diagnostics company in Korea, announced on Oct. 12^th that it has introduced WASPLab^® (bioMerieux, France), the first microbiology Total Laboratory Automation system in Korea.

When a sample arrives, a clinical microbiological lab receives the sample, and then usually inoculates the sample into a medium and cultures it overnight. After culturing, a tester checks whether the sample is positive. If positive, it moves on to identification and antimicrobial susceptibility tests, and afterwards the results are reported. To date, all of these test steps have been conducted manually, and the type of inoculated medium and the culture time vary depending on the type of sample.

WASPLab^®, recently first introduced in Korea by GC Labs, is an automated test system that automatically processes the series of steps from sample receipt to inoculation, culture, and interpretation, which had all been conducted manually. In particular, it automatically interprets the culture as positive or negative and allows test staff to easily double-check images on the monitor before reporting the final results to clinical professionals.

“WASPLab^® greatly improves test speed and efficiency, allowing us to report results in just two days for negative urine culture tests and three days for positive urine culture tests, including identification and antimicrobial susceptibility tests, which traditionally took at least four days,” said Ye-jin Oh, Medical doctor of Laboratory medicine department at GC Labs, “It also improves the reproducibility and accuracy of testing and minimizes lost or mistaken samples.”

GC Labs said it will officially begin to use the system in March next year after a 6-month period of evaluation. The company expects to further improve competitiveness in terms of test efficiency and quality with the introduction of the first microbiology total laboratory automation system in Korea.

About GC Labs

GC Labs is the South Korea’s leading clinical laboratory, a specialist in infectious diseases, and serves as part of the Global Diagnostics Network. GC Labs has enabled patients to receive accurate diagnoses and the right treatment with unrivaled quality of routine and specialized clinical tests. Around 800 employees at GC Labs offer more than 5,000 tests and test combinations, ranging from routine tests to highly esoteric molecular and genetic assays. With more than 35 years of accumulated know-how, GC Labs values the principles of providing the best treatment for patients even in unpredictable medical environments through passionate and ceaseless efforts. Not only domestically, but GC Labs has managed to expand overseas by entering a Lab Service Agreement with different areas of the world such as Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, India, UAE and etc. GC Labs is qualified with excellent medical standard of medical manpower, level, infrastructure, and etc. For further information, please visit our official website www.gclabs.co.kr/eng.