Rapid bacteriophage susceptibility testing using small molecule sensor technology

The evolution and spread of bacterial infections resistant to all known antibiotic drugs has spurred renewed interest in bacteriophage therapy. Phage therapy is a non-traditional antimicrobial method relevant to warfighters with drug resistant infections associated with complications of combat-related injuries. Both the development and use of phage therapies requires the availability of diagnostic platforms that can assess susceptibilities of pathogens to these alternate antimicrobials. However, there are currently no diagnostic platforms that can rapidly (same day) and quantitatively evaluate susceptibility to phage. Here, we propose to develop a novel diagnostic test using disposable, low-cost, printed sensor arrays sensitive to the volatiles emitted by microorganisms during their growth. Leveraging the Reveal instrument, developed with NIAID and CARB-X support, our preliminary data indicates that we can use our novel volatile-responsive sensors to rapidly ascertain bacterial growth in the presence of a series of bacteriophage titers, enabling the quantitative and repeatable determination of sensitivity to bacteriophages. As the proposed assay will be processed in the Reveal™ AST system that delivers accurate and robust phenotypic antibiotic susceptibility results in an average of 5 hours, this effort will enable a single platform to simultaneously test susceptibility to both antibiotic and bacteriophage therapeutic options.