Podler – the world’s first portable blood culture device
Change the way you approach sample incubation and monitoring. The power of a large, stationary culturing cabinet, now in the palm of your hand.
Take back lost time
Podler, the world’s first portable blood culture device, is a new product under development.
Capable of incubation, agitation, and continuous detection of bacteria in blood samples, Podler is designed to utilize time lost during transportation to reduce delays to optimal treatment.
Partner with ASTar and scale to your needs
Podler and the Podler Station is a flexible and scalable solution designed to meet the needs of any microbiology laboratory.
- Seamlessly integrates into existing infrastructure or operates fully as a standalone system
- Compatible with current blood culture bottles
- Communicate with LIS for data storage
Combined with ASTar, Podler has the potential to change the end-to-end blood culture workflow, to accelerate results for patients while reducing costs.
Podler workflow
The application
Timely antimicrobial therapy is essential for improving patient outcomes and reducing healthcare costs. However, delays in the detection of bacterial pathogens in blood cultures and delays in antimicrobial susceptibility testing are common. Time lost transporting samples to culturing cabinets can significantly exacerbate these delays.
While it is recommended that blood culture bottles be incubated within two hours of collection, in practice, they can spend up to 20 hours in transport and handling, especially when sent from off-site or spoke facilities.
Podler redefines the traditional timeline by allowing for immediate incubation, agitation, and continuous monitoring of a blood culture bottle right after blood draw. Time lost during transport is instead converted directly into
incubation time, turning downtime into diagnostic progress.
- Portable and powerful: Podler offers the full capabilities of a large, stationary incubator in a compact unit that fits in the palm of your hand
- Real-time monitoring: Bacterial growth is tracked within the Podler unit, including during transport. A simple LED color change indicates positivity, either on the Podler station or on the unit itself
- Immediate action: If a sample turns positive during transit, it can immediately undergo organism identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing upon arrival at the lab
Podler has the potential to change the way we approach sample incubation and monitoring. Together with ASTar, Podler aims to enable clinicians to make more informed treatment decisions, sooner.
Learn more about Podler
Podler is currently under development and not yet available for commercial purchase. Get in touch with our team to learn more.