The global rise in the prevalence of antibiotic resistant bacteria is a serious problem, threatening all modern medicine. A primary reason is the one-size-fits-all approach to treating infections, which encourages overuse of drugs and results in unnecessary sickness and death. To address this problem, this project is using metabolomics to create an automated analytical system and database for predicting potential risks posed by each individual infection. It will implement a new Precisions Infection Management (PIM) strategy allowing clinicians to match patients to the exact level of antibiotic therapy necessary to cure infections without unnecessarily selecting for antibiotic resistant bacteria. PIM allows these significant health improvements without increasing costs to our healthcare system: they predict that PIM will actually save money because of the reduced time people will need to spend in the hospital, and more importantly, it will save lives.
ActiveHealthTechnology Platforms
GlycoNet Integrated Services
Competition/Funding OpportunityGenome Canada - Technology Development
Project Lead(s)/Co-Lead(s)Warren Wakarchuk (University of Alberta)