Micro Imaging Technology, Inc. (MIT) has developed and patented the MIT 1000, a Microbial Identification System that revolutionizes the pathogenic bacteria diagnostic process and can annually save thousands of lives and tens of millions of dollars in health care costs. This technology, which the Company markets under the name Micro Identification Technologies(R), will identify bacteria in minutes at a significantly lower cost per test compared to conventional methods.
Until recently, MIT's Microbial Identification System, the MIT 1000, was comprised of a hardware detection unit, the MIT 1000 Instrument, and a software-based identification component that ran on a dedicated desktop PC with an installed A/D (analog-to-digital) data collection board. This configuration required a bulky, proprietary ribbon cable connected between the MIT 1000 Instrument and the A/D board in the PC. The identification software used two software components: the User Interface program and customer selected collection of MIT Identifiers(TM). The User Interface program operates the MIT 1000 Instrument and performs microbial identifications using the installed MIT Identifier(TM) collection. The User Interface program implements the identification component, MIT's proprietary algorithms, necessary for successful identification of a given microbial sample. Updates to the User Interface program or the MIT Identifier(TM) collection required manual installation of the new version by the end user.
"Today," says MIT's Chief Scientist, David Haavig, PhD, "MIT has transitioned to a new approach that involves a relatively new trend in the computing world commonly referred to as 'the cloud.' The implementation of MIT's proprietary algorithms and the MIT Identifiers(TM) now resides on high-availability server clusters in geographically disparate data centers." A/D conversion is now performed within the MIT 1000 Instrument and is now connected to a PC via a standard USB cable. Collected data is sent to the identification component via a standard internet connection. This approach allows for protection of MIT's proprietary algorithms and MIT Identifiers(TM) from reverse engineering, use of a very low cost, general-purpose PC for the User Interface program, and, after a simplified initial installation of the User Interface program software by the end user, push installation of updates. This usage model also inherently allows controlled access to MIT's catalog of Identifiers(TM), circumventing the need for updating customers' local software whenever new Identifiers(TM) are added or when the customer chooses to obtain licensing for additional Identifiers(TM). This design allows for the next version of the system to integrate the general-purpose PC functionality into the MIT 1000 system, providing a completely stand-alone design.
Dr. Haavig concluded, "I am excited about the release of this new technology. It provides tremendous simplification of the software upgrade process and allows for hardening of security."
About: Micro Imaging Technology, Inc. Micro Imaging Technology, Inc. is a California-based public company that is also registered to do business under the name Micro Identification Technologies. MIT has developed and patented the MIT-1000, a stand-alone, optically-based, software driven system that can detect pathogenic bacteria and complete an identification test, after culturing, in less than five (5) minutes for pennies per test when compared to any other conventional method. It does not rely on chemical or biological agents, conventional processing, fluorescent tags, gas chromatography or DNA analysis. The process requires only clean particle-free water and a sample of the unknown bacteria. Revenues for all rapid testing methods exceed $5 billion annually -- with food safety accounting for over $3.5 billion, which is expected to surpass $4.7 billion by 2015 according to BCC Research. In addition, the recently passed "New" U.S. Food Safety Bill is expected to further accelerate the current annual growth rate of 6.6 percent.