UBCO invention can detect bacterial infections more quickly
Using a small and inexpensive biosensor, researchers at UBC Okanagan, in collaboration with the University of Calgary, have built a diagnostic tool that provides healthcare practitioners almost instant diagnosis of a bacterial infection.
The tool can provide accurate and reliable results in real time rather than the two-to-five days required for existing processes that test infections and antibiotic susceptibility.
“Advances in lab-on-a-chip microfluidic technology are allowing us to build smaller and more intricate devices that, in the medical research space, can provide more information for health care practitioners while requiring less invasive sampling from patients,” said Mohammad Zarifi, an assistant professor at UBC Okanagan’s School of Engineering.
According to health care statistics from 2017, every hour of delay in antibiotic treatment increases mortality rates by nearly eight per cent due to infection complications.
Zarifi, and his research group in the Microelectronics and Advanced Sensors Laboratory, tested their device by tracking the amount of bacteria present in a variety of samples under various scenarios. By sending a microwave signal through the sample, the device quickly and accurately analyzes and then generates a profile of existing bacteria.
“The device is able to rapidly detect bacteria and in addition, it screens the interaction of that bacteria with antibiotics,” Zarifi said. “The combined results give health-care practitioners more information than they currently have available.”