Accurate, Rapid, Robust and Economical diagnostic Solutions for UTI and drug resistance

There is an urgent need for the development and implementation of new tools for the rapid diagnosis of urinary tract infections (UTI) and its drug resistance profiling. In this co-developed project, we will, in concert, develop, evaluate and refine three approaches for the rapid and accurate diagnosis of UTI and their resistance profiles, and establish their clinical utility with our partners in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, with the vision of promoting improved healthcare and wellbeing.
Prompt and precise diagnosis including drug resistance profiling is critical for timely and accurate treatment of UTI, and reducing its progression to urosepsis. Sepsis kills 11 million people every year (2.9 million deaths under the age of five) and over 25% of sepsis cases start as UTIs. However, due to the lack of reliable and rapid diagnostics, patients are often empirically prescribed antibiotics. The rationale being that ‘gold standard’ culture-based techniques needed for bacterial identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing are time-consuming (typically up to 48 hours). This is a major cause of concern from many angles, as antibiotics can have serious adverse side-effects, and their overuse drives resistance. This happens as clinicians (and patients) are all busy, neither wants a repeat appointment, and the guess might work. What is needed is a work-flow where a patent’s urine sample is analysed (ideally within 30-60 mins), to allow the right antibiotic to be prescribed at the right time for the specific patient – in essence personalised medicine.
The aims and objectives of this project are to support: (i) sustainable health via resource efficient early diagnosis of diseases through the innovative use of chemistry and electrochemistry and thus promoting well-being; (ii) inclusive and equitable training and technology validation with our partners and (iii) help develop sustainable livelihoods supported by strong foundations for sustainable, inclusive economic growth and innovation
To achieve this, the objectives set encompass a series of parallel strands, as shown below:

The application of a suite of technologies for the rapid and early assessment of UTI  (and drug resistance profiles) in parallel with standard culture methods.
A better understanding of and tackling key healthcare technology challenges specific to resource-poor settings
Building focused, proactive and long-term interdisciplinary partnerships through dynamic collaborative relationships: establishing these as exemplars of best practice.
Promoting across the international team both highly collaborative and multi-cross-disciplinary ways of working to enhance the provision and availability of better healthcare
Leveraging the breadth of our international leading science excellence to:
Provide training, skills development and knowledge transfer with our partners
Embed within our partners an enhanced capability whilst promoting a strong culture of independence, innovation and entrepreneurship in the healthcare sector
Enabling the very best, world-class collaborative research that builds stronger and lasting relationships and thus excellent research in the partner countries in the development of innovative research capability focused on affordable healthcare.

The potential applications and benefits are myriad - The area of UTI and the antibiotic resistance profiling are the initial targets. Once validated, infections from multiple other areas will become accessible to the technology, showing its broad importance, and broader impacts. In addition, the project also has the potential to kick start a change in MedTech, in which electrochemical sensing, that offers low-cost solutions with robustness and quantification within a clinical diagnostic setting, becomes main-stream.