• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
Saturday, June 10, 2023
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Bioengineering

Artificial Nose Sniffs Out Blood-Poisoning Germs

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
September 19, 2013
in Bioengineering
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Disease-causing bacteria stink — literally — and the odor released by some of the nastiest microbes has become the basis for a faster and simpler new way to diagnose blood infections and finger the specific microbe, scientists reported in Indianapolis today at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

The new test produces results in 24 hours, compared to as much as 72 hours required with the test hospitals now use, and is suitable for use in developing countries and other areas that lack expensive equipment in hospital labs.

“We have a solution to a major problem with the blood cultures that hospitals have used for more than 25 years to diagnose patients with blood-borne bacterial infections,” said James Carey, Ph.D., who presented the report. “The current technology involves incubating blood samples in containers for 24-48 hours just to see if bacteria are present. It takes another step and 24 hours or more to identify the kind of bacteria in order to select the right antibiotic to treat the patient. By then, the patient may be experiencing organ damage, or may be dead from sepsis.”

Sepsis, or blood poisoning, is a toxic response to blood-borne infections that kills more than 250,000 people each year in the United States alone. The domestic health-care costs to treat sepsis exceed $20 billion. In such a medical emergency, every minute counts, Carey explained, and giving patients the right antibiotics and other treatment can save lives.

That’s why a research team at the University of Illinois that included chemistry professor Ken Suslick, and Carey, set out to develop a faster, simpler test. Carey, of the National University of Kaohsiung in Taiwan in the Republic of China, described a completely new way to identify bacteria compared to an earlier version of such a test developed at Illinois.

The new device consists of a plastic bottle, small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, filled with nutrient solution for bacteria to grow. Attached to the inside is a chemical sensing array (CSA), an “artificial nose,” with 36 pigment dots. The dots change color in response to signature odor chemicals released by bacteria.

Using the device is simple, Carey said. A blood sample from a patient is injected into the bottle, which goes onto a simple shaker device to agitate the nutrient solution and encourage bacterial growth. Any bacteria present in the blood sample will grow and release a signature odor that changes the colors of pigment dots on the sensor. The test is complete within a day, and the results can be read in a pattern of color changes unique to each strain of bacteria.

The earlier device could detect odors given off by bacteria only after the bacteria were first grown in laboratory culture dishes. That device used a solid nutrient culture material, which takes longer to grow bacteria than the liquid in the improved test. It also was less sensitive and worked only when larger numbers of bacteria were previously cultivated.

Carey said the new device can identify eight of the most common disease-causing bacteria with almost 99 percent accuracy under clinically relevant conditions. Other microbes can cause sepsis, and the scientists are working to expand the test’s capabilities. But Carey said the device could make an impact now in reducing the toll of sepsis, especially in developing countries or other medically underserved areas.
“Our CSA blood culture bottle can be used almost anywhere in the world for a very low cost and minimal training,” Carey noted. “All you need is someone to draw a blood sample, an ordinary shaker, incubator, a desktop scanner and a computer.”

Carey’s research was funded by ChemSensing, Inc., Oklahoma City University, the National Kaohsiung University and the National Science Council of Taiwan. It builds upon Suslick’s research funding from the Genes, Environment and Health Initiative of the National Institutes of Health.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by American Chemical Society (ACS).

Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

blank

Why is the first Turkish bioengineering promotion website, Biyomuhendislik.com, so important?

February 4, 2023
blank

Robo-fish

September 19, 2016

Mice born from ‘tricked’ eggs

September 17, 2016

UCLA researchers use stem cells to grow 3-D lung-in-a-dish

September 16, 2016
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • plants

    Plants remove cancer causing toxins from air

    42 shares
    Share 17 Tweet 11
  • Element creation in the lab deepens understanding of surface explosions on neutron stars

    36 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9
  • Deep sea surveys detect over five thousand new species in future mining hotspot

    35 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9
  • How life and geology worked together to forge Earth’s nutrient rich crust

    35 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

University of Chicago mathematician Vladimir Drinfeld wins prestigious Shaw Prize

Targeting the Src N-Terminal regulatory element in cancer

Proof-of-Concept Program funds 12 research projects

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 51 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In