Antimicrobial cartridges and processes for multiplexed antimicrobial susceptibility testing

A cartridge for performing antimicrobial susceptibility testing of microorganisms, comprising:

• a plurality of reservoirs arranged in a series of rows and columns, each reservoir containing an antimicrobial agent;
• and
• a plurality of reservoir sets, each reservoir set comprising a series of adjacent reservoirs along a row of the cartridge and comprising a dilution series of the same antimicrobial agent;
• wherein the columns of reservoirs within the cartridge are divided into at least two regions, wherein each region comprises a group of columns for receiving a quality control organism that is different from a quality control organism received by a different region, and each region has at least two reservoir sets for assessing the antimicrobial susceptibility of the quality control organism received in that region;
• wherein the reservoir sets within each region comprise different antimicrobial agents from each other;
• and
• wherein the cassette is adapted to receive a patient sample or first and second quality control organisms, the first quality control organism being applied to a reservoir set within a first region of the at least two regions, and the second quality control organism being applied to a reservoir within a second region of the at least two regions.