University of Bristol team to develop a new test to assist GP antibiotic prescribing

A research team at the University
of Bristol, including researchers from ITHAcA HIT and NIHR CLAHRC West, has won a prestigious international award for a technology that
could help in the fight against antibiotic resistance.

One of the main driving forces
behind the evolution of antibiotic resistance in bacteria is the inappropriate
use of antibiotics. Providing doctors with rapid diagnostics to indicate which
antibiotic to prescribe for a particular infection would reduce inappropriate
antibiotic use and protect this valuable resource for the future. These rapid
“antibiotic susceptibility tests” would also ensure that a patient
receives a working antibiotic first time around, reducing the length and
severity of their infection, and potentially saving their life.

A collaborative team from the
University of Bristol has received a grant from the Longitude Prize Discovery Awards, which will enable them to further develop a
portable device for rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing. The team is
working on a test that uses a unique system to monitor the responses of
individual infection-causing bacteria to antibiotics. They have demonstrated
the test’s ability to determine, within 20 minutes, the effectiveness of a
collection of antibiotics to kill infection-causing bacteria. Using this Discovery
Award, the team will now work on a prototype machine to assist GPs when
prescribing antibiotics in their practices.

The interdisciplinary team
comprises academics and researchers from the School of Physics (Drs Massimo
Antognozzi and Charlotte Bermingham); School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine
(Dr Matthew Avison); Merchant Venturers School of Engineering (Drs Ruth Oulton
and Krishna Coimbatore Balram); Bristol Medical School (Dr Helen Baxter) and
NIHR CLAHRC West (Dr Niamh Redmond). The Bristol Health Partners Avoidable Hospital Admissions Health
Integration Team (ITHAcA HIT) is part of the wider collaboration supporting
this work.

Dr Antognozzi, Senior Lecturer from the School of Physics and lead academic, said:

“The team is excited to receive
this award, which confirms the originality of our approach and gives us crucial
support at this development stage.”

Dr Avison, Reader in Molecular Bacteriology and impact lead
for the EPSRC-funded BristolBridge AMR research consortium, which provided the initial seed-funding for this
project, added:

“The continuing development of this potentially
transformative diagnostic device, and its receipt of this highly competitive
international award, is testament to the interdisciplinary excellence of
Bristol’s antibiotic resistance research. We all look forward to seeing this
project develop further.”