Biophysical Society Thematic Meeting | Stockholm 2022

Physical and Quantitative Approaches to Overcome Antibiotic Resistance

Poster Abstracts

11-POS Board 11 ANTIMICROBIAL SUSCEPTIBILITY DIAGNOSTICS USING A CHROMATIC BIOSENSOR FOR POINT-OF-CARE TESTING Seoyoon Song 1 ; Huisoo Jang 1 ; Woojin Jung 1 ; Deborah Lee 2 ; Sun Min Kim 1,3 ; Tae-Joon Jeon 1,2 ; 1 Inha University, Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, Incheon, South Korea Sepsis is a life-threatening condition with systemic inflammatory responses caused by bacteria. In addition to its high mortality rates, the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, such as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), is accelerating, precluding the treatment of patients with proper antibiotics in a timely manner. To overcome the limitations of the conventional ASTs (antimicrobial susceptibility testings), we devised a chromatic biosensor of which color changes could be seen by the naked eyes for point-of-care testing where needed. The chromatic biosensors enable in situ ASTs because metabolites from bacteria result in the color changes of biosensors. The biosensor demonstrated its ability to yield comparable MIC (minimal inhibitory concentration) to the preestablished MIC determined via a standard broth dilution method. Moreover, when the AST was directly carried out on human serum spiked with MRSA, the time required for the whole process greatly reduced to as short as 15 hours as favorable compared to the conventional ASTs that usually take up to a few days. With the significantly shortened required time, our biosensor will contribute to helping the medical experts to prescribe appropriate antibiotics in a timely manner, thus reducing the mortality of sepsis patients. 2 Inha University, Biological Engineering, Incheon, South Korea 3 Inha University, Mechanical Engineering, Incheon, South Korea

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