Fundamentals Of Real-Time Viable Particle Monitoring: How Does It Work?

By Patrick M. Hutchins, Ph.D.

Real-time viable particle monitoring instruments have been available for over five years. These instruments can overcome many of the obstacles presented by traditional growth-based viable monitoring (i.e., poor recovery of some organisms, long incubation times, and risk of contaminating product during interventions). However, due in part to a lack of understanding in the technology used by these instruments, implementation thus far has been limited. This white paper is intended to be a general description of this technology and how it is used to detect viable particles in real-time.