ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,399,194, issued on Aug. 26, was assigned to BD KIESTRA B.V. (Drachten, Netherlands).

"Automated method and system for obtaining and preparing microorganism sample for both identification and antibiotic susceptibility tests" was invented by Timothy R. Hansen (Spring Grove, Pa.), Rick Holtz (Essex, Md.), Martijn Kleefstra (Surhuisterveen, Netherlands), Raphael Rodolphe Marcelpoil (Corenc, France), Rick Pierpont (Apex, N.C.), Brent Ronald Pohl (Timonium, Md.), Alyssa Shedlosky (Reisterstown, Md.), Scott Shindledecker (Jarrettsville, Md.), Edward Skevington (Stewartstown, Pa.), Kerry Lynn Smith (York, Pa.) and Timothy Wiles (Ocean Isle Beach, N.C.).

According to the abstract* released by...