Printing of Biogels for enhanced antibiotic susceptibility measurements

对抗生素的抗药性是目前社会面临的最令人担忧的挑战之一。这与气候变化和海洋中塑料的积累不相上下。人们正在开发许多新技术来帮助医生为特定的感染选择正确的抗生素，这反映了这一挑战的重要性。抗生素的误用是抗生素耐药性的驱动因素之一，不适当的处方增加了耐药性感染的数量，并加速了当前药物不再有效的过程。Microboard Dx是一家试图通过创新的技术解决方案来解决这个问题的公司，该解决方案有效地将大型琼脂平板上的传统微生物培养缩减到微芯片式技术上，并允许确定导致感染的细菌的耐药性模式。这使得临床医生可以在不到一小时的时间内做出明智的决定，决定开哪种药。像这样的技术将在改善“抗生素管理”和保护我们目前拥有的药品库存方面发挥重要作用。要将Microplate Dx原型从概念转化为现实，有必要解决围绕产品本身的几个测量问题，以便正确地证明其可制造性和可扩展性。在这个项目中，Microboard Dx将与国家测量实验室合作，后者将通过使用他们的生物打印机和表面表征仪器来帮助解决这两个挑战。实现这些目标将有助于公司推进其技术开发，并获得未来的投资和收入。

Resistance to antibiotics is one of the most concerning challenges society currently faces. It is on a par with climate change and accumulation of plastic in the ocean. It is a reflection on the importance of this challenge that many new technologies are being developed to help doctors select the correct antibiotic for a given infection. The misdirected use of antibiotics is one of the drivers of antibiotic resistance, inappropriate prescriptions increase the number of drug resistant infections and accelerate the process of reaching the point where current medicines no longer work.Microplate Dx is a company attempting to address this issue through an innovative technological solution which effectively shrinks traditional microbial culture on large agar plates down on to a microchip style technology and allows the resistance pattern of bacteria causing the infection to be determined. This allows clinicians to make informed decisions about which drug to prescribe in under one hour. Technologies like this will have a big role to play in improving 'antibiotic stewardship' and preserving the stocks of medicine we currently have.To take the Microplate Dx prototype from concept to reality it is necessary to address several measurement issues around the product itself so that its manufacturability and scalability can be properly demonstrated. Showing that the gel deposits, which go onto the chip can be deposited with high consistency is crucial to demonstrating manufacturability and also, being able to show that the various chemicals added to the gel which make the test work are evenly distributed throughout is a key performance factor which needs to be verified.In this project, Microplate Dx will work with the National Measurement Laboratory who through access to their biological printer and surface characterisation instrumentation will assist with these two challenges. Achieving these goals will help the company with moving its technological development forward and sourcing future investments and revenue.