抗生素耐药性是公共健康的莫大威胁。医生因无抗生素药敏测试结果只得采用经验试错处方，是加速耐药性的重大问题。目前全球在开发快速抗生素药敏测试提出多种类型方法，但共同问题是药敏试验之前需要先通过冗长的分离步骤，确保试样为单菌株才可分析，这造成无论所谓的药敏实验有多快，实际的分析时间还是以天计算。本研究旨在创立一种真正意义上的快速测试，无需预先分离过程，同时兼容单菌株和混合菌株，在数小时内同时完成菌种鉴定和药敏测试。本方法将本团队首创的基于水凝胶微流控芯片的二维药敏测试分析方法同MALDI-TOF质谱成像技术无缝衔接，通过芯片上的二维药物浓度梯度产生细菌反应的不均匀分布，利用数据挖掘算法将单细胞图像数据与质谱化合物成像数据结合使用，同时提取细菌种类信息与药敏试验结果，且可更好模拟生物环境获得更准确的结果。此系统不仅可以满足快速细菌药敏测试需要，也可以借助其多维微流控特性为新药开发提供有力的平台。

Prescription of antibiotics is still largely based on the experience of physicians rather than concrete information regarding the infection, as conventional antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) methods often fail to provide such information in time. Accurate prescription of antibiotics is thus hard to achieve, though it could significantly improve patient outcome and slow down the progress of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by reducing overuse of antibiotics. In this project we propose a rapid diagnostic tool that addresses the issue. This microfluidic AST platform will help realize the concept of “personalized medicine” in the treatment of bacterial infections and promote informed prescription of antibiotics.