Automatic Preparation of Specimens for Diagnostic Testing from a Diverse Range of Animals with the 2A Automatic Homogenization Processor

Abstract

Fecal specimens are important biomarker sources for parasitic and microbial infections, microbial imbalances and nucleic acids shed from colorectal cancers. Preparing solid excrement for testing is time consuming and requires substantial hands-on analyst time. Herein is presented an automated stool preparation platform, the Sciendox 2A Automatic Homogenization Processor, originally developed for human specimens. Multi-animal specimen studies were conducted after continued development including software and consumable improvements, benchmarking hands-on versus automated timing, and guard banding specimen inputs and mixing regimens. The 2A reproducibly processed each sample in less than 2 min of hands-free time with element recovery as high as 74 – 93%. There was a high correlation between antigen measured in a new Giardia Chemiluminescence Assay from dog clinical specimens prepared on the 2A or manually. Candida sp. were cultured from 4 of 6 dog stool specimens. DNA from supplemented nucleosomes was recovered from the same specimens with considerable variation among the different dogs but little difference between the paired fresh or frozen specimens. Endogenous KRAS DNA was also recovered from the same specimens at similar levels for the fresh and frozen specimens. Finally, fecal samples from 10 different domestic and 10 different exotic animals were shown to be successfully processed on the 2A. This platform is an important new option for animal fecal processing for subsequent parasitological, oncological and gastrointestinal disease testing with minimal analyst intervention and risk of contact with specimens. Ongoing development includes a next generation 6000A instrument with sample handling improvements.

Keywords: Automation, Candida, cattle, cfDNA, dogs, feces, Giardia, horses, nucleosomes