New technology ‘could deliver rapid pathogen identification’

An electronic chip that can rapidly detect and identify types of infectious bacteria could represent an important new development in the fight against antibiotic resistance.

Created by the University of Toronto, the device can analyse samples for panels of infectious bacteria in record time and confirm the identity of the pathogen in minutes, while searching for many different bacteria and drug resistance markers at the same time.

A test to see if the chip could detect bacteria at concentrations found in patients presenting with a urinary tract infection showed that the device was able to deliver accurate and swift results.

Ihor Boszko, director of business development at Toronto-based in vitro diagnostics firm Xagenic, said this discovery could have numerous practical implications in the creation of near-patient clinical diagnostic tools.

He explained: "Multiplexing of in vitro diagnostic approach adds the capability of simultaneously testing for multiple viruses or bacteria that produce similar clinical symptoms. It also allows for simple and cost-effective manufacturing of highly multiplexed electrochemical detectors."

Earlier this week, a report from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University isolated viruses in the gut that may be playing a key role in promoting antibiotic resistance among bacteria.