Rapid Bacteria Detection from Patients' Blood Bypassing Classical Bacterial Culturing

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Infectious Disease Diagnostics

Background:

• Sepsis, a life-threatening response to bacterial infection, requires prompt pathogen identification for effective treatment.
• Current diagnostic methods, like bacterial culturing, are time-consuming, often taking up to 72 hours.
• Early detection of bacteremia is vital to prevent organ dysfunction and improve patient outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate an ultra-rapid and highly sensitive nanomechanical sensor array for early sepsis diagnosis.
• To identify bacterial presence and specific pathogens directly from patient blood samples without cultivation.
• To assess the feasibility of nanomechanical sensors for detecting bacterial RNA in blood.

Main Methods:

• Extraction of total RNA from EDTA whole blood samples of patients with confirmed bacteremia.
• Utilized nanomechanical sensor arrays with 16S-rRNA hybridization and species-specific probes.
• Detection of bacterial RNA through hybridization and analysis of surface stress signals.

Main Results:

• Successfully identified the presence or absence of bacteria in all patient samples.
• Detected specific bacterial species, *Escherichia coli* and *Staphylococcus aureus*, down to 20 CFU/mL.
• Observed distinct nanomechanical sensor responses differentiating bacterial presence from absence, indicating compressive surface stress.

Conclusions:

• Nanomechanical sensor arrays offer a rapid and sensitive method for detecting bacterial RNA in blood.
• This technology demonstrates potential for early sepsis diagnosis directly from blood, bypassing lengthy culture methods.
• The developed approach could significantly advance sepsis diagnostics, offering a faster alternative to existing PCR or point-of-care testing devices.