 NASA takes Bioscience
products into space. Click here to read more.
SAS used in battle against airborne transmission of
disease in prisons. Click
here to read more.
Scientists use
Bioscience products in
maintaining remnants
of 5,000 year old
human. Click here to read more.
Bioscience products
used for environmental
monitoring in Sistine
Chapel restoration.
Click here to read more. |
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"Any indication of
mold in the air of his chamber is closely monitored with the portable SAS (Surface Air
Sampler). Using Sabouraud Dextrose Agar contact plates once a week, scientists pull
the air of the chamber with the SAS across the plates to chart and maintain a baseline of
low microbial levels an shield this previous relic from invasive microbes." From
Bioscience World, Spring 1999
SAS Preserves the Past
His modern name is Otzi. The Otzal Valley, a formidable glacier
in the Italian Alps, entombed his prehistoric corpse in an icy crevice for 5,000 years.
Fully preserved with brain, eyes, skin, and internal organs intact, this wayfarer
of the Copper Age stared fearfully at his tardy saviors as they airlifted him on his final
alpine journey toward preservation. At the Anatomy Institute of the University of
Innsbruck, his taut amber skin began to succumb to hostile ambient hear. Scientists
cradled him into a sealed refrigerated Plexiglas case. Simulating his icy grave,
they calibrate the atmosphere 21º Fahrenheit and 98% relative humidity.
Any indication of mold in the air of his chamber is closely monitored with the portable
SAS (Surface Air Sampler). Using Sabouraud Dextrose Agar contact plates once a week,
scientists pull the air of the chamber with the SAS across the plates to chart and
maintain a baseline of low microbial levels an shield this previous relic from invasive
microbes.
In this controlled environment, scientists safely scrutinize the corpse.
Appointments to view him outside the case are granted for rare prescribed visitations not
to exceed twenty minutes.
Ironically, one of Otzi's several treasures found near his cupped hand at his death
site was a small white donut-shaped fungus strung on a coarse brown string. It was
most likely his first-aid kit. Five millennia later, it is just such microbes he
must combat to keep his place as one of the oldest naturally mummified humans.
Recently, Otzi was reclaimed by Italy. Ina museum in the small alpine town of
Bolzano near where his journey began so long ago, he lies in repose at his final journey's
end.
To appreciate the breadth of applications for air monitoring by the SAS, we provide an
extensive bibliography of over ninety Application Notes to guide scientists in their
sampling needs. Application Note 8 offers the protocol for the collection of molds
in indoor air.
For More Information Contact:
Bioscience International
11607 Magruder Lane, Rockville MD 20852-4365
Tel: 301-230-0072
FAX: 301-230-1418
Internet: BioInfo@Biosci-Intl.com
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