Grant: Catalyst Grant: Bone Health

Surgical site infections account for up to 15% of all hospital acquired infections. The widespread prophylactic use of antibiotics has resulted in resistant strains of bacteria, such as Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), which now present a significant challenge to the healthcare industry. The risk of acquiring a persistent bacterial infection is particularly high in orthopaedic procedures like joint replacement and fracture repair that involve highly invasive techniques to replace diseased tissue with a prosthetic device. Opportunistic pathogens gain access to the marrow compartment where they can remain undetected for months until the patient presents with fever and bone pain secondary to osteomyelitis. At this stage the infection is virtually impossible to eradicate and extensive revision surgery is required to remove infected tissue and the implant, often with dire consequences. The goal of the proposed research is to validate a prototype phage-based micro-sensor in rat models of implant fixation and fracture repair. Strain-specific phage immobilized on gold electrodes generate a signal that is detected by a radio frequency identification device (RFID), processed by a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) and relayed via an antenna to a wireless receiver in the vicinity of the patient. These simple devices can easily be mass-produced for cost-effective, point-of-care diagnosis of surgical site infection at an early stage in high risk patients undergoing invasive orthopaedic procedures, which will significantly reduce the need for multiple revision surgeries.