| CPC G01N 21/35 (2013.01) [G01N 21/658 (2013.01); G16B 50/00 (2019.02)] | 10 Claims |
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1. A method of identifying microorganisms in a sample, by evaluating the vibrational profile, comprising:
a step of preparing a database of reference spectra of known samples of known microorganisms comprising:
one or more steps of sampling a known sample;
one or more steps of acquiring the spectrum of the known sample;
one or more steps, possibly automated, of processing the spectrum of the known sample in order to at least identify spectral regions in which to evaluate the presence of spectral characteristics identifying each category and/or classification group;
one or more steps of creating a plurality of pre-calculated models, associated with categories and/or classification groups of hierarchically organized microorganisms, from broader categories and/or classification groups to smaller categories and/or classification groups, each pre-calculated model comprising said identification spectral characteristics associated with a category and/or a classification group of microorganisms;
a step of sampling an unknown sample;
one or more steps of acquiring the spectrum of the unknown sample;
one or more steps of processing the spectrum of the unknown sample on the basis of what is defined in step;
one or more analysis steps, each of which provides to perform in succession a plurality of sub-steps of comparing the spectrum of the unknown sample with said pre-calculated models, each sub-step comparing, by means of multivariate analysis methods, the spectrum of the unknown sample with the pre-calculated models of progressively smaller categories and/or classification groups, in order to supply at least scores showing the belonging of the unknown sample to said categories and/or classification groups of microorganism;
one or more control steps in which a new acquisition step of the spectrum of the unknown sample is requested if said reliability parameters are lower than predetermined acceptance values, or a final result of the method is supplied, which can comprise a failed identification, or a successful identification.
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