March 16, 2021
草莓污视频导航 microbiologists develop platform for rapid infection diagnostics
Thanks to funding from 草莓污视频导航鈥檚 UCeed initiative, what started as a late-stage academic project is now poised to become a real-world tool for swiftly diagnosing infections.
Rapid Infection Diagnostics (RID), an investee company founded at 草莓污视频导航 in 2019, has developed Hopper, a metabolomics-based platform that can be used to identify and test the antibiotic susceptibility of disease-causing microbes. Metabolomics is the study of small molecules, known as metabolites, that are produced as the result of the metabolic activities of a micro-organism.
Hopper can drastically reduce the time it takes to identify a disease-causing organism in a sample. Instead of growing the bacteria and waiting for it to multiply, it can simply look at what the bacteria secretes, which is much more abundant.
鈥淏acteria eat and poop a lot more than they multiply,鈥 says Dr. Thomas Rydzak, PhD, RID鈥檚 chief scientific officer and one of Hopper鈥檚 primary inventors.
Incubate, metabolize, identify, prescribe
Hopper incubates bacteria for four hours, allowing for metabolism to occur, and the scientists can then identify pathogens based on the metabolites present. The platform can also incubate the bacteria in the presence of antibiotics to see if metabolism stops or continues. This antibiotic-susceptibility test will allow for more accurate treatment of patients, as only antibiotics that effectively prevent the metabolism of the bacteria will be prescribed.
In a head-to-head comparison, Hopper鈥檚 results are available 30 hours faster than other diagnostic platforms that are currently in use, says RID founder Dr. Ian Lewis, PhD, an assistant professor of biological sciences. RID estimates this faster diagnostic time could save 50,000 lives per year in North America and Europe.
鈥淪o many people are currently dying from bad technology,鈥 says Lewis.
RID鈥檚 goal is for Hopper to become the primary diagnostic platform used in labs across North America and Europe. Lewis says it has recently taken a big step toward that goal, receiving a favourable evaluation on the patent in Europe.
鈥淲e鈥檙e on track to having this device implemented in a wide set of countries across the world,鈥 says Lewis.
Huge range of applications possible
Beyond its current application of diagnosing urinary tract and bloodstream infections, RID anticipates a wide range of applications for Hopper. Lewis says there are many exciting opportunities for it in paediatric diagnostics, and RID is working with several paediatric groups interested in adapting the life-saving technology.
UCeed is a pre-seed and seed funding program that helps commercialize new technologies and accelerates 草莓污视频导航 startup companies.聽
Funding provided by the UCeed Health Opportunity Fund will help RID take the next step in taking Hopper from an idea to reality. It will help the company establish new health-care partners and allow RID to begin clinical trials on the platform starting this summer.
Lewis says the UCeed funding and continued support from 草莓污视频导航鈥檚 innovation ecosystem will contribute to RID's mission of enabling better health outcomes from infectious disease through rapid diagnostics.
Ian Lewis聽is an assistant professor and Alberta Innovates Translational Health Chair in the Department of Biological Sciences at the 草莓污视频导航. He is also the principal investigator for the Lewis Research Group.
UCeed is a pre-seed and seed funding program that helps commercialize new technologies and accelerates startup companies in the areas of child and general health, the Haskayne Student Fund, and Social Impact. Learn more.
The 草莓污视频导航鈥檚 multidisciplinary聽Engineering Solutions for Health: Biomedical Engineering聽research strategy drives solutions to our most pressing health challenges in disease and injury prevention, diagnosis, and treatments. Our biomedical engineering researchers make a significant impact in our communities by extending lives, improving quality of life, promoting independence, and continuously improving the health system.