Public Funding for Linear Diagnostics Limited

Awaiting Public Project Summary

One of the most common causes for visits to the doctor is for infections, e.g. urinary tract infections (UTIs). There are around 150 million cases of UTIs worldwide and antibiotics are often prescribed. However, in many cases these treatments are prescribed incorrectly because the bacteria may be resistant to the antibiotic. Over-use of antibiotics increases the problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and this is further compounded by the lack of development of new classes of antibiotics. We may soon find ourselves in a situation where we have a major health problem due to resistant bacteria causing widespread infections. The O'Neill report comissioned by the UK government indicates that, untackled, AMR could result in the death of one person every 3 seconds by 2050. However, rapid diagnostics would reduce unnecessary prescription and optimise treatment. We have invented a new way of testing for bacteria and antibiotic resistance using a simple hand-held test that gives a readout in 2 minutes as opposed to the 2 days that it currently takes. This means that a rapid diagnosis can be carried out next to the patient and the use of our new diagnostic test will ensure that the correct drugs are used when needed and will reduce the incidence of inappropriate prescribing.

Crops that are grown for food are often vulnerable to diseases that cause the quality of the food to deteriorate over time. One important food crop is potatoes and these are particularly susceptible to bacteria and fungi that cause the potatoes to break down during storage or after they have been packed and dispatched to supermarkets. There are a number of organisms that can cause this breakdown and tests for these can be carried out individually using current technology. However, these tests look for one type of organism at a time and are often time consuming and expensive. We are developing a simple to use, fast and economical test that can detect the most important organisms in one sample at the same time in a few minutes. This means that the results are available quickly so prompt action can be taken as the potatoes enter storage or when they are washed prior to packing rather than waiting for lab results - by which time it is often too late to do anything about the spread to other batches. As well as testing the potatoes directly, another important area where this test will help is in monitoring the water that is used to wash the crops before packing. The amounts of water used are large and for economic and environmental reasons it makes sense to recycle this water. Companies have methods to recycle water and our rapid monitoring method will support the recycling process by providing a quick, easy and cheap tool to test when batches of wash water need to be replaced. Overall, the developments will result in less waste and potatoes that that can be stored for longer. Once successfully demonstrated for use with potatoes the technology will be developed for use in other food products.