New technology paves way towards personalized antibiotic therapy
New sensor provides quick test to measure antibiotic resistance

Date:
August 9, 2021
Source:
University of British Columbia Okanagan campus
Summary:
Researchers have developed a method for monitoring bacterial
responses to antibiotics in health-care settings that opens
the door to personalized antibiotic therapy for patients. Using
microwave sensing technology researchers have developed a low-cost,
contactless, portable and reusable microwave sensor that acts
as a fast and reliable evaluation tool for measuring antibiotic
resistance.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
UBC researchers have developed a method for monitoring bacterial responses
to antibiotics in health-care settings that opens the door to personalized antibiotic therapy for patients.


========================================================================== Using microwave sensing technology, UBC Okanagan Assistant Professor
Mohammad Zarifi and his team at the Okanagan Microelectronics and
Gigahertz Applications (OMEGA) Lab have developed a low-cost, contactless, portable and reusable microwave sensor that acts as a fast and reliable evaluation tool for measuring antibiotic resistance.

According to the World Health Organization, over-prescription of
antibiotics has led to growing resistance of bacteria towards drug
treatments. As a result, the newly evolved "superbugs" have put a large
strain on health-care systems globally, says Zarifi.

This newly developed sensor aims to combat the drawbacks of the current Antibiotic Susceptibility Test (AST), as it reduces the time and cost
taken to conduct the test, while increasing the portability for AST to
be used in remote regions.

"Many types of bacteria are continuously evolving to develop resistance
to antibiotics. This is a pressing issue for hospitals around the globe,
while sensor and diagnosis technology has been slow to adapt," explains
Zarifi, who teaches at the School of Engineering.

Existing AST practices are expensive and can take up to 48 hours to
process results.

"Longer wait times can significantly delay the treatments patients
receive, which can lead to further medical complications or even
fatalities. This method showcases the requirement for a reliable, rapid
and cost-effective detection tool,'' he says.

The new sensor, developed by the UBC team, can differentiate bacterial
growth variations before any visible cues are evident. Therefore, the
dosage or type of antibiotics can be fine-tuned to combat the specific bacterial infection.

In the next phase of development, the OMEGA lab aims to integrate
artificial intelligence algorithms with this sensing device to develop
smart sensors, which would be a big leap towards personalized antibiotic therapy.

"Our ultimate goal is to reduce inappropriate usage of antibiotics and
enhance quality of care for the patients," says Zarifi. "The more quality
tools like this that health-care practitioners have at their disposal,
the greater their ability to combat bacteria and viruses." This research
has been published in Nature Scientific Reports with financial and
instrumental support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council
of Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and CMC Microsystems.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_British_Columbia_Okanagan_campus. Note: Content may be
edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Mandeep Chhajer Jain, Anupama Vijaya Nadaraja, Rakesh Narang,
Mohammad
Hossein Zarifi. Rapid and real-time monitoring of bacterial growth
against antibiotics in solid growth medium using a contactless
planar microwave resonator sensor. Scientific Reports, 2021; 11
(1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-94139-y ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210809144123.htm

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