A rapid card assay for detection of Gram positive bacteremia
Pramod Jagtap (Prof. Shalini Gupta)
18th May 2017, Thursday, 04:00‐04:30 pm (25+5 mins), ChE Seminar hall
Bacterial infections are now the world's leading cause of premature deaths and third in line after cancer and cardiovascular related mortalities. Amongst the number of bacterial infection cases in the world, 60-70% are caused because of Gram positive bacterial insult. In the absence of a rapid conclusive diagnostic proof, clinicians are forced to prescribe empirical antibiotic therapy based only on a patient’s clinical symptoms. This undirected use of antimicrobials not only increases medical costs but also the risk of toxicity and natural selection of multidrug resistant (MDR) strains leading to superinfections. To tackle this problem, we are developing an ultrasensitive rapid assay that would confirm the presence of Gram-positive bacteria in the patient’s blood right by his/her bedside. This should enable early diagnosis of sepsis, a lethal medical condition that plagues hospitals worldwide. Our strategy involves immobilization of the target pathogen-associated biomarker lipoteichoic acid (LTA) on an affinity membrane and its detection using a drug-conjugated gold nanoparticle. As a first approach, we are using a commercially available monoclonal antibody (mAb) in place of drug to establish the proof of concept. Simultaneous efforts are on for identifying suitable drug candidates to replace this expensive mAb. For this, we are using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), surface plasmon spectroscopy (SPR) and molecular dynamic simulations to establish the LTA-drug interaction. The preliminary results so far look quite promising.