Antibiotic resistance testing at the point of care
- Reference number
- NPa17-0008
- Start and end dates
- 170101-171231
- Amount granted
- 75 000 SEK
- Administrative organization
- Research area
- Life Science Technology
Summary
Based on the technology developed for analyzing bacterial cells in the SSF-FFL project, I used the utilization funding to patent a microfluidic device for fast antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) in June 2015. Together with my FFL-mentor Ove Öhman we decided to make an actual AST-instrument for urinary tract infection (UTI) to be used in a primary care setting. There are 100 milj cases of UTI each year and wide spread antibiotic resistance. The current AST takes >24 h which is too long to guide the primary treatment. A fast and inexpensive test that makes it possible to prescribe effective antibiotics at the point-of-care, will reduce suffering and the risks of severe complications. In addition, the possibility to use specific and effective antibiotic directly, will reduce the use of broad spectrum antibiotics and makes it possible to keep using antibiotics for which there is high risk of resistance. Our initial tests on clinical isolates gave correct responses compared to the slow gold standard and with support from UU innovation, we could build a prototype instrument. After attracting angel investor funding, we stared the company, Astrego Diagnoistcs AB, with 8 employees in April 2017. The project may have great societal impact by enabling better health care and reduced antibiotics resistance, as well as increased competiveness of the Swedish diagnostics industry. This would clearly not have happened without the SSF utilization support and the FFL mentorship program.