Value Proposition
· Faster, same‑day guidance for prescribing antibiotics: Rapid bedside screening platform that captures cultures and tests bacteria from clinical specimens (e.g., urine) to inform immediate antibiotics prescribing in doctors’ offices, urgent care, and outpatient clinics.
· Useful for low‑volume infections: Because the system concentrates bacteria from samples, it can provide useful results even when bacterial counts are low.
· Preserves lab resources: Acts as a triage/screening tool. Only samples needing confirmation or more detailed ID are sent to central labs, reducing lab burden and turnaround time. Supports downstream confirmatory testing via built‑in microfluidic ports and compatible reagents when more detailed analysis is needed.
· High sensitivity at single‑cell / per‑bead level: Detects early growth signals and small resistant subpopulations that other rapid tests may miss.
· Potential cost savings: Faster targeted therapy may reduce downstream costs from treatment failures, hospital admissions, and extended antibiotic courses. By triaging which samples need full lab work, the system could lower central lab load and associated costs.
Unmet Need
· Increasing antibiotic resistance is one of the most serious threats to human health. A recent analysis by RAND Europe, forecasts that antibiotic resistance will lead to 300 million premature deaths by the year 2050 if no action is taken to combat antibiotic resistance, exceeding the predicted combined mortality of cancer and diabetes. According to the CDC, at least 28% of antibiotics prescribed in U.S. outpatient settings are unnecessary, highlighting the need for faster diagnostic tools that help clinicians select the most appropriate therapy. There is great potential to slow the development of resistance through the appropriate use of antibiotics, which includes accurate and rapid diagnosis of infection.
· Existing rapid tests rely on flow-based detection or molecular methods which often have a lower signal-to-noise ratio and can miss low‑level resistant subpopulations. Molecular tests only find known genetic markers and can miss other resistance mechanisms. Many rapid options are also limited to central labs rather than true point‑of‑care use. Thus, there is a strong need for a compact, sensitive point‑of‑care antimicrobial susceptibility testing solution.
Technology Description
· The system uses specially treated magnetic beads to pull live bacteria out of a patient sample (for example, urine), concentrates them, and grows them directly on the beads inside a small microfluidic chip. The chip arranges the beads in a single layer so the device can take time‑lapse fluorescence measurements: a dye in the culture lights up as bacteria grows, and selected antibiotics are introduced at clinician‑relevant concentrations. Stable, long‑duration imaging of each bead produces strong signals that software analyzes to report whether the bacteria are likely to respond to the tested drugs, estimate bacterial concentration, detect small resistant subgroups, and flag sample heterogeneity. The device includes ports for downstream confirmatory assays and a clinician‑facing app for result reporting.
Stage of Development
· Proof-of-concept/early prototype stage
Data Availability
· Data available upon request.
Publication
· N/A
Public Disclosure(s):
· Method to Assess Microbial Drug Resistance Chosen as APL’s 2009 Innovation of the Year, awarded to Andrew Feldman and Jeffrey Lin (see JHU Applied Physics Laboratory, 2010)
