Sporometrics was founded in 1993 by Dr. James Scott, as an expert environmental microbiology laboratory engaged in the identification and characterization of microbes of environmental and industrial importance, specializing in moulds and other filamentous fungi. During our 14 years of operation we have gained extensive experience consulting to government, industry and health care sectors relating to assessment, control, risk management, policy development, and knowledge transfer and exchange relating to microbiological contaminants. For example, Sporometrics was the sole consultant in a recent, large government-funded project entitled, "National Centres for Secure Biological Resources for Canada", that evaluated the state of microbiological culture collections in Canada in terms of biosecurity, counter-terrorism, and national R&D priorities.

Our laboratory is staffed by degreed scientists all of whom are actively engaged in research projects at the cutting edge of environmental microbiology. In addition to highly experienced administrative support staff, our team currently includes 5 doctoral, 4 master's and 3 bachelor's/ RT-level microbiologists. We process 500 to 1,000 specimens per month for a client base of over 100 agencies such as hospitals, school boards, consulting, architectural, engineering and legal firms, and government, as well as other laboratories including medical and environmental laboratories. This sample stream involves the direct examination and identification of over half a million individual fungal isolates annually. We analyse samples in formats including viable-, spore trap-, bulk-, and dust samples as well as pure cultures.

Sporometrics is housed in a state-of-the-art, 3,000 sq ft, purpose-built laboratory facility outfitted with ultramodern laboratory furnishings located in the heart of downtown Toronto's film district. We maintain an uncompromising array of microscopic equipment, including Olympus BX-50 and BX-51 compound microscopes equipped with Nomarski Interference Contrast optics, epifluorescence and digital video and high-resolution still imaging capability. Our laboratory has a full range of core modern laboratory equipment, including certified biological safety cabinets, ultralow temperature and herbarium storage facilities, and a walk-in environmentally controlled incubation room. Sporometrics also maintains a series of stingently controlled environmental test chambers compliant with ASTM D3273. Two of these chambers may be used for non-standard testing procedures requiring specialized preparation or unique organism profiles. Our library includes roughly 5,000 volumes, mainly on mycology and microbiology, and several thousand reprinted papers, making it comparable in comprehensiveness to the mycological collection at the University of Toronto, which is the largest university library system in the country. We also stock over 10 current mycology/ microbiology journals.

INSIDE THE SPOROMETRICS LABORTORY