Next-Generation Antimicrobial Diagnostics: Speed and Precision via Whole Genome Sequencing

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Bacterial infections cause millions of infections and take tens of thousands of lives every year,**and without antibiotics the death toll would skyrocket. Unfortunately, antibiotics are rapidly**becoming less effective due to the evolution of resistance. On top of this, doctors often have a**difficult time identifying what drugs will be most effective against infecting pathogens a timely**manner. For these reasons there is desperate need for new antimicrobial diagnostic methods**that can rapidly provide physicians accurate information to guide their treatments. One very**promising new approach to this problem is to sequence the genomes of the infecting**pathogens and use this information predict how they will respond to treatment. We propose to**produce genome sequence data and use sophisticated genome-wide association and**predictive modeling methods to develop a new antimicrobial diagnostic tool. We will**specifically focus on stopping a bacterial pathogen called Pseudomonas aeruginosa that**causes a disproportionate number of hospital infections and deaths. We will work in**collaboration with our partners at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto to generate this**state-of-the-art diagnostic tool and then develop procedures to move it into the clinic. The**success of this project will speed diagnosis, improve patient care, reduce healthcare costs,**and enhance stewardship of antibiotics; thereby, preserving their efficacy for the future.