Fraunhofer UK Research

Over-prescription of needless antibiotics is fuelling the rising tide of antimicrobial resistance that threatens to render current antibiotics ineffective. We propose a rapid, highly-compact, non-specialist operator and low-cost device for use in primary healthcare, enabling GPs to immediately diagnose bacterial infections and their antibiotic susceptibility. This will lead to a step-change improvement in informed, targeted prescriptions; saving lives, money and time, as well as slowing resistance. Our technology uniquely brings together nanophotonic waveguides and microfluidics to determine the response of bacteria to minute quantities of antibiotics. In this Phase 1 proposal we will demonstrate proof-of-principle, working closely with GP end-users.