Patent ID: 8871497

Claim:
A portable apparatus for collecting and culturing a biospecimen sample containing biological organisms, comprising: a housing having an insertion portal and a plurality of extraction portals; a specimen input chamber enclosed within the housing and connected to the insertion portal so as to receive the biospecimen sample from outside the housing; a plurality of culture mediums; a plurality of culturing chambers enclosed within the housing, at least two of said plurality of culturing chambers containing respective contents including respective ones of said plurality of culture mediums, each of the plurality of culturing chambers being adapted to receive a portion of the biospecimen sample, and each of the plurality of culturing chambers being in fluid communication with a respective one of the extraction portals to permit access to the respective contents of the plurality of culturing chambers; a system of fluid ducts within the housing that connect the specimen input chamber to each of the culturing chambers; and an actuator that facilitates flow of portions of the biospecimen sample from the specimen input chamber through the system of fluid ducts and into each of the culturing chambers; wherein biological organisms in the biospecimen begin to grow in one or more of the culturing chambers and cultured portions of the biospecimen sample being accessible for selective withdrawal from the apparatus via the extraction portals.