710319Automating a platform for rapid clinical microbiologyClosedGRD Proof of ConceptInnovate UKThe Company has developed a test allowing the hospital microbiology laboratory to rapidly detect bacterial and fungal infections in blood. Current methods usually take 1-3 days to tell if a blood specimen is positive and 5 days to report if it is negative. The new test provides both positive and negative results in 24 hours which helps to save hospital costs and unnecessary antibiotic use and will assist in difficult diagnoses. However the test takes 3 hours for a trained scientist to perform. This manual requirement makes it harder for a busy lab to fit the new test into its daily workflow The SMART project is intended to show proof of concept for an automated version of the test. Running the test on an instrument requires development of new methods for separating microorganisms from blood contaminants and this is a key risk factor in the project. It is intended that the final automated method will reduce the amount of hands on time required by lab staff to a matter of minutes and allow higher numbers of tests to be run per day with improved accuracy. Hospital microbiologists have said that making the test easier for the lab to run will make adoption much more likely and this is expected to boost sales significantly in the UK and worldwide. If the SMART proof of concept is successful the Company intends to complete development and launch the automated detection product as well as apply this automation to future products.