Ultra Rapid Monitoring of Bacterial Nano-Growth and Antibiotic Susceptibility

描述（由调查人员提供）：细菌对抗生素的耐药性上升已被疾病控制和预防中心（CDC）称为“世界上最紧迫的健康问题之一”。由于细菌耐药性的增加，对快速抗生素敏感性试验的需求变得更加迫切。抗菌素耐药性的增加是一个普遍存在的问题，已经跨越了几十年和许多细菌菌株。在美国，每年有200万细菌感染，其中约有9万人死亡。像耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌（MRSA）这样的“超级细菌”现在杀死的美国人比杀死艾滋病的还要多。因此，我们的长期目标是开发一种新型设备，可以在1小时的时间尺度上进行快速的抗菌素耐药性测量，这比目前的方法快得多。本申请的目的是开发一种快速体外生长监测细菌的新方法，用于快速的抗生素敏感性评估。该技术基于流体微阻力，使用具有纳米级精度的新型磁性非线性振荡器，也允许“纳米生长”监测。该方法将使医生和临床病理学家能够快速、自信地确定适当的抗菌治疗。首席研究员具有将物理和化学技术应用于医学应用的相关经验，合作者是临床微生物学专家。该项目的具体目标是实现(1)一小群细菌和(2)单个细菌细胞的快速体外生长监测，以及快速抗生素敏感性测试。所描述的方法，这是直接和廉价的，将最终导致一个设备的建设，可以在任何临床环境中使用。通过使用这种设备，将迅速确定适当的抗微生物疗法，这将减少抗微生物药物耐药性，最重要的是，挽救生命。

DESCRIPTION (provided by investigator): The rising resistance of bacteria to antibiotics has been referred to by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as "one of the world's most pressing health problems." The need for rapid antibiotic susceptibility tests is becoming more urgent due to the increasing resistance of bacteria. Increased antimicrobial resistance is a pervasive problem that has spanned decades and many bacterial strains. In the US, out of 2 million bacterial infections each year, there are approximately 90,000 deaths. "Superbugs" like Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) now kill more Americans than AIDS. Therefore, our long term goal is to develop a novel device that can perform rapid antimicrobial resistance measurements on the time-scale of 1 hour, which is much faster than current methods. The objective of this application is to develop a new method for rapid in vitro growth monitoring of bacteria for fast antibiotic susceptibility evaluations. The technique is based on fluidic micro-drag, using novel magnetic non- linear oscillators with nano-scale precision, which also allows "nano-growth" monitoring. This method will enable physicians and clinical pathologists to quickly and confidently determine the proper antimicrobial therapy. The Principal Investigator has relevant experience in applying physical and chemical techniques to medical applications and the collaborator is a clinical microbiology expert. The project's specific aims are to achieve rapid in vitro growth monitoring, as well as rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing, of (1) a small colony of bacteria and (2) single bacterial cells. The described approach, which is straightforward and inexpensive, will ultimately lead to the construction of a device that can be utilized in any clinical environment. Through the utilization of such a device, appropriate antimicrobial therapies will be quickly determined, which will reduce antimicrobial resistance and, most importantly, save lives. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This application introduces a new approach, with nano-scale sensitivity, for very rapid determination of bacterial susceptibility to a given antibiotic. The proposed technique is expected to dramatically improve the treatment of infectious diseases by enabling fast determination of the proper choice and dosage of antibiotics/medications. The overall goal is to reduce morbidity and mortality in patients through a quick and efficacious treatment regimen, which will also lead to a reduced use of broad spectrum antibiotics and thus to a reduced emergence of "superbugs" with antibiotics resistance.