Reshape upgrades microbiology automation with 450-plate-per-hour imaging system

Reshape Biotech introduced upgrades to its High-throughput Imaging Device on 6 May 2026, adding new plate-handling hardware and real-time status information to its automated microbiology workflow. The system images and analyses up to 450 Petri dishes per hour, with results and associated records stored in the Reshape Quality software platform.

A universal in-feed accepts standard 90 mm Petri dishes within ISO 24998:2008. New portable magazines hold up to 24 plates during incubation and then load directly into the imaging device. A compressed-air mechanism separates plates from lids that have stuck during preparation, allowing the device to capture unobstructed images and continue processing the batch.

The on-device screen displays system status, sorting outcomes and result categories such as negative, positive and too numerous to count. Front access to critical interfaces simplifies cleaning and maintenance. The software structures imaging records and classifications into a digital audit trail for connection to laboratory information-management or electronic laboratory-notebook systems.

The update arrives a year after the original HTID launch and follows Reshape’s US$20 million Series A in February 2025, led by Astanor Ventures with R7, ACME, Y Combinator and other investors. That financing supported US expansion and recruitment for the Copenhagen company, whose earlier research installations included Syngenta and the University of Oxford. The May hardware changes extend its automated imaging work into repeatable quality-control workflows for food, beverage and contract-testing laboratories.