Grant: Operating Grant: Antimicrobial Resistance - EOI

Consider a patient with an infectious disease and presenting general symptoms to a doctor. The doctor is interested in knowing the causative pathogen, the severity of infection and most importantly the particular drug that would cure the patient. Current molecular diagnostic methods such as DNA based identification are convenient and fast in providing the identification of the pathogen. However, they generally do not provide information on efficacy of a particular drug on that specific infection. In effect they are indirect indicators of the information that is sought by health professionals in diagnosing and devising a treatment. Culture based methods are more direct and provide information on the growth, identification and effect of drugs on the specific sample. However, they have fallen into disfavor as they take a long time for analysis. We have developed a revolutionary way to obtain information of the growth of bacteria faster. We use microfluidics to divide the sample into thousands of smaller volumes in a simple automated way. In this way, individual bacteria are isolated into their own compartments and monitored for their growth. At low concentrations, this method increases the effective concentration of bacteria in the nanovolumes where they are present by 100-1000 times, enabling faster detection of bacterial growth. We also identify drug resistance and can simultaneously assess the resistance to a number of drugs. In this project, we will apply this technology to detect viability, concentration and drug (carbapenem) resistance of extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing enterobacteriaceae from blood samples. We will demonstrate direct detection of the pathogen at low concentrations in blood without the need for enrichment or sample preparation which will greatly reduce the time for analysis as well as simplify it for point of care application. This technology will have a significant impact on the fast and immediate diagnosis of this infection.