APAS The Automated Plate Assessment System or APAS is a platform technology for the automation of culture plate screening and interpretation.  While LBT’s first product PREVI Isola automates the inoculation and streaking of the agar plates, APAS streamlines the next stages of the process. Hundreds and sometimes thousands of plates are assessed in labs every day and currently each one has to be examined by a microbiologist for the presence of bacterial colonies.  APAS automatically screens, interprets and sorts the plates, freeing up the bottleneck in lab workflow and microbiologists’ time, enabling faster time to patient results. An international market survey conducted in 2010 confirmed the potential for APAS.  Apart from the productivity benefits, eliminating the need for the microbiologists to trawl through the multitude of negative plates means that they can more quickly attend to the significant specimens, reducing the turnaround time for the often-critical results. Market studies have indicated the commercial potential for the technology and the company is in discussions with potential international partners.