Context and Objectives
Antibiotic resistance is rife, yet notoriously difficult to predict. Here we assessed the
potential of an easy to use device, ‘EVOLchip’ that allows rapid testing (within
days) of microbial resistance evolution against antibiotics. This could pave the way for much longer
use of current antibiotics, which are at risk of global failure, in addition to enabling the reuse
of old antibiotics as novel combinatorial therapies. Such tests can be conducted at
hospital level by any trained medical microbiologist and hence be implemented into routine
antibiotic stewardship schemes. Antibiotic consumption in medicine and agriculture (b) rapid diagnostics of antibiotic resistant
strains and (c) development of novel drugs. b and c are applied when conventional antibiotic
therapy has failed. The development of new antibiotic drugs lacks an economic incentive and
also takes on average 10-20 years .
Work performed
EVOLchip is a microfluidic device that allows to establish combinations and gradients of
antibiotics using precision pumps. Antibiotic resistance evolution can be observed in real
time. Resulting resistant bacteria can be genome sequenced and hence rapid diagnostics of
resistance mutations are possible. The system is fully autoclavable, self-contained and easy
to inoculate. I anticipate that this system is as easy to use as standard microbiology lab
equipment.
Final results and impact
Evolchip will enable practitioners to very swiftly (a matter of days) develop strategies to prevent or at least
significantly slow antibiotic resistance against currently available and novel antibiotics. ‘Evolchip’ has the potential to provide (1) an evidence based
prediction of antibiotic resistance within a short period of time, (2) a way to make the
application of antibiotics much more sustainable and (3) enable practitioners of
antibiotic stewardship to assess and plan their schemes tailored to the needs of their
hospitals.
