Patent ID: 8911987

Claim:
An automated instrument for identifying a microbial agent present in a specimen sample contained within a specimen container, comprising, in combination: a sample removal apparatus operative to automatically remove a test sample from the specimen container and add the test sample to a disposable separation device; a separation and concentration station operative on the separation device after receiving the test sample so as to separate the microbial agent from other components that may be present in the test sample and concentrate the microbial agent within the separation device, wherein the microbial agent is concentrated into a pellet; and an identification module configured to interrogate the concentrated microbial agent pellet by producing an excitation-emission matrix (EEM), wherein said interrogation comprises intrinsic fluorescence measured in front face mode, the module further including a computer programmed to identify the microbial agent to the genus, species and/or strain level from intrinsic fluorescence data obtained from the interrogation of the concentrated pellet.