Rapid Antimicrobial Susceptibility Test Returns Results within 30 Minutes
By LabMedica International staff writers Posted on 29 Nov 2023 |

In 2019, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) was responsible for the deaths of approximately 1.3 million individuals. The conventional approach for testing antimicrobial susceptibility involves cultivating bacterial colonies with antibiotics, a process that is notably time-consuming, often taking several days to gauge bacterial resistance to a spectrum of antibiotics. This delay poses a significant challenge in urgent medical situations, like sepsis, where prompt treatment is crucial. As a result, clinicians are often compelled to either rely on their clinical judgment to prescribe specific antibiotics or administer a broad-spectrum antibiotic regimen. However, the use of ineffective antibiotics can exacerbate infections and potentially lead to increased AMR in the community. Now, researchers have reported significant progress in developing a rapid antimicrobial susceptibility test that can deliver results in as little as 30 minutes, marking a huge improvement over current standard methods.
A team of researchers from the University of Oxford (Oxford, UK) has created a method combining fluorescence microscopy with artificial intelligence (AI) to detect AMR. This technique involves training deep-learning models to scrutinize images of bacterial cells and identify structural changes when exposed to antibiotics. The method proved successful with various antibiotics, demonstrating a minimum accuracy of 80% on a per-cell analysis. The team applied this method to various clinical strains of E. coli, each exhibiting different resistance levels to the antibiotic ciprofloxacin. Impressively, the deep-learning models consistently and accurately identified antibiotic resistance, achieving results at least tenfold faster than current leading clinical methods.
With further development, this rapid testing method has the potential to enable more precise antibiotic treatments, reducing treatment durations, lessening side effects, and helping to curb the growth of AMR. The research team envisions future adaptations of this model for detecting resistance in clinical samples to a broader range of antibiotics. Their goal is to enhance the speed and scalability of this method for clinical application, as well as to modify it for use with various types of bacteria and antibiotics.
“Antibiotics that stop the growth of bacterial cells also change how cells look under a microscope, and affect cellular structures such as the bacterial chromosome,” said Achillefs Kapanidis, Professor of Biological Physics and Director of the Oxford Martin Program on Antimicrobial Resistance Testing. “Our AI-based approach detects such changes reliably and rapidly. Equally, if a cell is resistant, the changes we selected are absent, and this forms the basis for detecting antibiotic resistance.”
Related Links:
University of Oxford
Latest Pathology News
- AI Performs Virtual Tissue Staining at Super-Resolution
- AI-Driven Preliminary Testing for Pancreatic Cancer Enhances Prognosis
- Cancer Chip Accurately Predicts Patient-Specific Chemotherapy Response
- Clinical AI Solution for Automatic Breast Cancer Grading Improves Diagnostic Accuracy
- Saliva-Based Testing to Enable Early Detection of Cancer, Heart Disease or Parkinson’s
- Advances in Monkeypox Virus Diagnostics to Improve Management of Future Outbreaks
- Nanoneedle-Studded Patch Could Eliminate Painful and Invasive Biopsies
- AI Cancer Classification Tool to Drive Targeted Treatments
- AI-Powered Imaging Enables Faster Lung Disease Treatment
- New Laboratory Method Speeds Diagnosis of Rare Genetic Disease
- New Technology Autonomously Detects AI Hallucinations in Digital Pathology
- Novel Algorithm Rapidly Identifies Cell Types to Improve Cancer Diagnosis
- AI Method Speeds Up Cancer Tracking Using Blood Tests
- New AI Tool Improves Blood Cancer Diagnosis
- Novel Platform Technology Predicts Diseases by Early Detection of Aging Signals in Liver Tissue
- AI Model Detects More Than 170 Cancer Types
Channels
Clinical Chemistry
view channel
New Clinical Chemistry Analyzer Designed to Meet Growing Demands of Modern Labs
A new clinical chemistry analyzer is designed to provide outstanding performance and maximum efficiency, without compromising affordability, to meet the growing demands of modern laboratories.... Read more
New Reference Measurement Procedure Standardizes Nucleic Acid Amplification Test Results
Nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) play a key role in diagnosing a wide range of infectious diseases. These tests are generally known for their high sensitivity and specificity, and they can be developed... Read moreMolecular Diagnostics
view channel
RNA-Seq Based Diagnostic Test Enhances Diagnostic Accuracy of Pediatric Leukemia
A new unique test is set to reshape the way Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (BCP-ALL) samples can be analyzed. Qlucore (Lund, Sweden) has launched the first CE-marked RNA-seq based diagnostic test for pediatric... Read more
New Technique for Measuring Acidic Glycan in Blood Simplifies Schizophrenia Diagnosis
Polysialic acid is a unique acidic glycan predominantly found in brain regions associated with memory and emotion, but it is also present in the bloodstream. Research has shown that blood levels of polysialic... Read moreHematology
view channel
Disposable Cartridge-Based Test Delivers Rapid and Accurate CBC Results
Complete Blood Count (CBC) is one of the most commonly ordered lab tests, crucial for diagnosing diseases, monitoring therapies, and conducting routine health screenings. However, more than 90% of physician... Read more
First Point-of-Care Heparin Monitoring Test Provides Results in Under 15 Minutes
Heparin dosing requires careful management to avoid both bleeding and clotting complications. In high-risk situations like extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), mortality rates can reach about 50%,... Read moreImmunology
view channel
Blood Test Detects Organ Rejection in Heart Transplant Patients
Following a heart transplant, patients are required to undergo surgical biopsies so that physicians can assess the possibility of organ rejection. Rejection happens when the recipient’s immune system identifies... Read more
Liquid Biopsy Approach to Transform Diagnosis, Monitoring and Treatment of Lung Cancer
Lung cancer continues to be a major contributor to cancer-related deaths globally, with its biological complexity and diverse regulatory processes making diagnosis and treatment particularly difficult.... Read more
Computational Tool Exposes Hidden Cancer DNA Changes Influencing Treatment Resistance
Structural changes in tumor DNA are among the most damaging genetic alterations in cancer, yet they often go undetected, particularly when tissue samples are degraded or of low quality. These hidden genomic... Read morePathology
view channel
AI Performs Virtual Tissue Staining at Super-Resolution
Conventional histopathology, essential for diagnosing various diseases, typically involves chemically staining tissue samples to reveal cellular structures under a microscope. This process, known as “histochemical... Read more
AI-Driven Preliminary Testing for Pancreatic Cancer Enhances Prognosis
Pancreatic cancer poses a major global health threat due to its high mortality rate, with 467,409 deaths and 510,992 new cases reported worldwide in 2022. Often referred to as the "king" of all cancers,... Read more
Cancer Chip Accurately Predicts Patient-Specific Chemotherapy Response
Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), one of the two primary types of esophageal cancer, ranks as the sixth leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide and currently lacks effective targeted therapies.... Read more
Clinical AI Solution for Automatic Breast Cancer Grading Improves Diagnostic Accuracy
Labs that use traditional image analysis methods often suffer from bottlenecks and delays. By digitizing their pathology practices, labs can streamline their work, allowing them to take on larger caseloads... Read moreTechnology
view channel
Inexpensive DNA Coated Electrode Paves Way for Disposable Diagnostics
Many people around the world still lack access to affordable, easy-to-use diagnostics for diseases like cancer, HIV, and influenza. Conventional sensors, while accurate, often rely on expensive equipment... Read more
New Miniature Device to Transform Testing of Blood Cancer Treatments
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy has emerged as a groundbreaking treatment for blood cancers like leukemia, offering hope to patients when other treatments fail. However, despite its promise,... Read moreIndustry
view channel
Lunit and Microsoft Collaborate to Advance AI-Driven Cancer Diagnosis
Lunit (Seoul, South Korea) and Microsoft (Redmond, WA, USA) have entered into a collaboration to accelerate the delivery of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered healthcare solutions. In conjunction with... Read more