Abstract: Systems and methods for microbe identification (ID) in the context of phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST). Approaches for rapidly identifying polymicrobial samples are introduced that following perform one or more ID methods, such as matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF), PCR, or DNA hybridization, following sample incubation in two or more different media, including at least one selective media. Parallel ID and AST workflows are provided that may reduce the time from sample to AST result.

Abstract: Continuous monitoring of blood cultures using pH- (or CO2—) based detection platforms is the current clinical gold standard. Despite the ubiquity of these systems in state-of-the-art clinical microbiology laboratories, they offer slow times-to-result (TTR) because microorganism detection typically requires >109 colony forming units (CFU) to be present whereas only 1-1000 CFU are typically present in septic patient blood samples. These TTRs are further lengthened for samples collected from spoke sites in consolidated hub-and-spoke laboratory models, an increasingly common model for integrated hospital networks and reference laboratories, because sample transport time, typically >4 hours, is lost. Here we introduce new methods that allow microorganisms to be detected at <105 CFU and that enable sample incubation during courier transport from spoke collection sites to the central laboratory hub.

Abstract: Systems and methods for microbe identification (ID) in the context of phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST). Approaches for rapidly identifying polymicrobial samples are introduced that following perform one or more ID methods, such as matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF), PCR, or DNA hybridization, following sample incubation in two or more different media, including at least one selective media. Parallel ID and AST workflows are provided that may reduce the time from sample to AST result.