Doctoral students in Biomicrofluidics

Antibiotic resistance is a global health problem caused by the use and misuse of antibiotics. To improve treatment efficacy, reduce resistance development and prolong the lifespan of existing and future antibiotics they must be used only for bacterial infections and when the bacterium is antibiotic susceptible. This will require rapid and reliable diagnostics to identify the bacteria and their resistance profile—the focus of this research. We will develop an antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) method where bacteria are captured directly from samples in a microfluidic chip and their individual growth rates are monitored using microscopy.