Bacterial cytometry for rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing

The resistance of bacteria to antibiotics (antimicrobial resistance - AMR) is predicted to be the primary cause of death and claim 10 million lives per year by 2050. Currently, within Europe the burden of AMR is similar to the combined burden of influenza, tuberculosis, and HIV. A UK Government report into AMR (O'Neill, 2016) identified a number of needs including rapid diagnostics. This would facilitate mandatory testing so that antibiotics can be given appropriately and reduce AMR. The challenge that this research project will address is the speed of conventional tests which are far too slow (>24 hours) to enable informed prescription.

This research project will investigate phenotypic (observable biophysical characteristics) response of single bacteria exposed to antibiotics,There are many different antibiotics which act in different mechanisms - assays will be developed to explore different classes of antibiotic and test interpolation within antibiotic classes. A continuous monitoring system will be developed to replace the fixed-time measurement system and investigate the dynamics of growth and biophysical change to further reduce the measurement time window. The sensing chip is currently limited in analysis range, so new electronics will be developed to enhance the measurement including higher frequencies to measure new biophysical properties including the cytoplasm and new electrode geometries to measure shape changes. The project will also develop sample preparation assays to enable direct measurement from patient samples, and for multiplexed exposure of a single sample to multiple antibiotics using microfluidics-based approaches.