Currently, it takes 2-5 days to identify bloodstream infection (BSI) pathogens and perform antibiotic susceptibility testing. Patients who receive the wrong antibiotic over this time are ten times more likely to die. To address this, the project has manufactured a new microscale metabolomics device that integrates all the steps of the microbiology testing pipeline into a single platform. The objective of this project will be to: 1) refine the design to support fully automated analysis of BSI in under 8 hours, 2) make the platform compatible with existing commercial mass spectrometry-based medical devices, 3) evaluate the assay performance in a high-volume clinical diagnostic application, and 4) transfer the technology to a major manufacturing partner to enable global distribution. This fully-integrated microbiology detection platform for identifying BSI pathogens and measuring antibiotic susceptibility will potentially decrease the existing analytical timeframe to under 8 hours, saving lives.
ActiveEnvironment & EnergyHealth
Transforming Wastewater-Based Surveillance to an Actionable Public Health Tool for Managing and Mitigating Infections Across a Range of Scales
Competition/Funding OpportunityGenome Canada - eDNA Surveillance Initiative
Project Lead(s)/Co-Lead(s)Michael Parkins and Casey Hubert (University of Calgary)