SBIR Phase I: Early Growth Metabolic Responses of Mycobacteria

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project describes a method for the drug susceptibility testing of mycobacteria having speed and simplicity. The technical approach is based on a novel implementation of impedance sensing to monitor cellular growth with exceptional sensitivity and stability. Impedance sensing of microbiological growth has not received the attention of optical methods and is ripe for significant technical advances. The responses corresponding to the effects from different antimicrobial compounds are recorded and used to determine the drug susceptibility of viable slow-growing organisms as well as identify multi-drug resistant mycobacteria. The high sensitivity of the approach enables diagnostic results to be obtained without the need for grown cultures reducing the time from sample collection to complete diagnosis by many weeks compared to currently used methods. The organism M. tuberculosis is responsible for 9 million people becoming ill and 2 million people dying each year worldwide, making it one of the world's leading infectious causes of death. Furthermore, the onset of multi-drug resistant strains of M. tb leaves the United States and all other countries unprepared to mount an adequate defense in the event of an epidemic or intentional widespread exposure. The availability of a practical and affordable method of rapidly determining the drug susceptibility of TB infected specimens would have tremendous impact globally on controlling the spread of tuberculosis and the management of effective policies.