Real Time Automatic System for the Impedimetric Monitoring of Bacterial Growth

This note describes the design and construction of new Virtual Instrumentation implemented in LabView 7.1 for the real time monitoring of the concentration of Escherichia coli cultures using impedance spectroscopy and platinum electrode chips. A hand-made Sequential Injection Analysis system was used for both the transport of microbiological samples from the incubator to the electrochemical cell, where they were measured, and the elimination of residues. The impedimetric approach showed good correlation when compared with a standard method, fluorescence microscopy counting after filtration and staining of bacterial samples, until 10 7 colony forming units per mL was achieved. © 2011 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.