Researchers have developed a bio-nanotechnology platform that makes it possible to rapidly capture and detect bacteria in human blood samples without the need for time-consuming culture processes, Wang Yuh-lin (王玉麟), a distinguished research fellow at Academia Sinica and National Taiwan University professor, said yesterday.
“Detecting bacteria in clinical blood samples without using time-consuming culture processes will allow more rapid diagnoses,” said Wang, who led the research team.
Conventional methods commonly require a sample preparation time ranging from days for fast-growing bacteria to weeks for slow-growing bacteria, Wang said.
The study was published in the Nov. 15 issue of the journal Nature Communications.
“Like every instrument that has its own distinct sound, every molecule has its specific spectrum and scientists have used the feature to differentiate bacteria,” said Liu Ting-yu (劉定宇), an assistant professor at the university and a member of the team.
He said that coating silver-nanoparticle arrays with the antibiotic vancomycin using a technology called surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy can lead to a 1,000-fold increase in bacteria capture compared with conventional approaches.
Vancomycin was chosen because it is one of the strongest antibiotics available and captures nearly all forms of bacteria.
Liu said the captured bacteria can then be concentrated in a special vancomycin-coated module, while blood cells are excluded, making identification easier.
The development could have wide-ranging benefits, with the top priority, at present, the detection of sepsis, a potentially deadly condition that is characterized by inflammation of the entire body and the presence of known or suspected infection.
Han Yin-yi (韓吟宜) of National Taiwan University Hospital said the technology would help obtain a much faster and more precise initial test result of the infection, reducing patient fatalities and the incidence of complications.
Once the technology becomes available, doctors will no longer have to engage in guesswork when prescribing drugs to patients and antibiotic abuse will also be reduced, Han said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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