Novel device detects bacteria and suggests apt antibiotic

An interdisciplinary team of engineers and pharmaceutical researchers at the University of Alberta has invented a device that can rapidly identify harmful bacteria and can determine whether it is resistant to antibiotics. The device could save precious hours in patient care and public health, and prevent the spread of drug-resistant strains of bacteria. The team's findings can help in detecting bacteria and measure their susceptibility to antibiotics in small confined volumes.
The device was designed to look for and trap different types of bacteria and find out which antibiotics are most effective against them. Rather than growing bacterial cultures then testing them, the microscopic device relies on nano-scale technology for fast results.
The main feature of the device is a cantilever, a plank that resembles a diving board that has a microfluidic channel 25 times smaller than the width of a hair etched on its surface. The channel is coated with biomaterials, like antibodies, that harmful bacteria like E. coli or Listeria in fluid samples stick to.
When bacteria are caught, the device sends out three different signals to the researchers. When bacteria is detected, the cantilever's mass changes, and it bends, explained researcher Thomas Thundat.
"So, this gives us two signals: the mass change and the bending action by shining infrared light on the bacteria, a third signal is sent. If the bacterial absorbs the light, it begins to vibrate, generating a minute amount of heat that sends a confirmation signal. Having three detection methods means there is no ambiguity".
"By monitoring the interaction of light and bacteria, we can get highly selective detection of bacteria," said Faheem Khan, another expert.
With the bacteria trapped in the cantilever, different antibiotic drugs can be added to the device. Changes in the intensity of tiny oscillations of the cantilever signal will inform the researchers whether the bacteria are alive or dead. The researchers then know which antibiotics the bacteria are susceptible to.
"We're trying to find a way to fight bacterial resistance to drugs and prevent or at least decrease the spread of drug-resistant strains," said Hashem Etayash, a researcher. Adding, "We're able to do several tests in a very short period of time and we can quickly identify bugs that can resist antibiotics." 

 The device can be used to test extremely small fluid samples, millions of times smaller than a rain droplet. The size of the device is advantageous when you only want a very small sample, in settings such as a neonatal intensive care unit, or in situations where only very small samples are available.

The research was published in Nature Communications journal. 

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Cardiac ‘patch’ to replace damaged heart tissue

A cardiac patch which incorporates biomaterial harvested from patients and gold nanoparticles could be transplanted into the body to replace damaged tissue after a heart attack, scientists say.

Tel Aviv University researchers have been developing sophisticated micro— and nanotechnological tools to develop functional substitutes for damaged heart tissues.

Dr Tal Dvir and his graduate student Michal Shevach of TAU’s Department of Biotechnology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, have now discovered that gold particles are able to increase the conductivity of biomaterials.

In a study published in the journal Nano Letters, Dvir’s team described their model for a superior hybrid cardiac patch, which incorporates biomaterial harvested from patients and gold nanoparticles.

Cardiac tissue is engineered by allowing cells, taken from the patient or other sources, to grow on a three-dimensional scaffold, similar to the collagen grid that naturally supports the cells in the heart.

Over time, the cells come together to form a tissue that generates its own electrical impulses and expands and contracts spontaneously.

The tissue can then be surgically implanted as a patch to replace damaged tissue and improve heart function in patients.

According to Dvir, recent efforts in the scientific world focus on the use of scaffolds from pig hearts to supply the collagen grid, called the extracellular matrix, with the goal of implanting them in human patients.

However, due to residual remnants of antigens such as sugar or other molecules, the human patients’ immune cells are likely to attack the animal matrix.

In order to address this immunogenic response, Dvir’s group suggested a new approach. Fatty tissue from a patient’s own stomach could be easily and quickly harvested, its cells efficiently removed, and the remaining matrix preserved. This scaffold does not provoke an immune response.

The second dilemma, to establish functional network signals, was complicated by the use of the human extracellular matrix.

“Engineered patches do not establish connections immediately. Biomaterial harvested for a matrix tends to be insulating and thus disruptive to network signals,” said Dvir.

Dvir explored the integration of gold nanoparticles into cardiac tissue to optimise electrical signalling between cells.

“To address our electrical signalling problem, we deposited gold nanoparticles on the surface of our patient-harvested matrix, ‘decorating’ the biomaterial with conductors,” said Dvir.

“The result was that the nonimmunogenic hybrid patch contracted nicely due to the nanoparticles, transferring electrical signals much faster and more efficiently than non-modified scaffolds,” Dvir added.

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