The present invention concerns a method of measuring antimicrobial susceptibility of microbes using a suitable device or system. Also provided are a device and a system suitable for measuring antimicrobial susceptibility of microbes and use of the device and system to measure the antimicrobial susceptibility of microbes.

Embodiments allow for rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) at a low cost. Embodiments may use changes in the pixel intensity from reflected light to determine microorganism growth and antimicrobial resistance. Dilutions of an antimicrobial are added to a standard well plate or other array. A pathogen or other microorganism may be added to the dilutions in the well plate. The well plate may be incubated for a time period less than 3 hours. The well plate may then be imaged and the resulting image data may be analyzed. Wells where the microorganism is able to grow may appear darker than wells where the microorganism did not grow. Differences pixel intensity of the wells is used to determine the susceptibility or resistance of the microorganism to the antimicrobial. The image data may be used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), the lowest dilution concentration of antimicrobial that inhibits growth.

Embodiments allow for rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) at a low cost. Embodiments may use changes in the pixel intensity from reflected light to determine microorganism growth and antimicrobial resistance. Dilutions of an antimicrobial are added to a standard well plate or other array. A pathogen or other microorganism may be added to the dilutions in the well plate. The well plate may be incubated for a time period less than 3 hours. The well plate may then be imaged and the resulting image data may be analyzed. Wells where the microorganism is able to grow may appear darker than wells where the microorganism did not grow. Differences pixel intensity of the wells is used to determine the susceptibility or resistance of the microorganism to the antimicrobial. The image data may be used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), the lowest dilution concentration of antimicrobial that inhibits growth.

The invention enables efficient, rapid, and sensitive enumeration of living cells by detecting microscopic colonies derived from in situ cell division using large area imaging. Microbial enumeration tests based on the invention address an important problem in clinical and industrial microbiology—the long time needed for detection in traditional tests—while retaining key advantages of the traditional methods based on microbial culture. Embodiments of the invention include non-destructive aseptic methods for detecting cellular microcolonies without labeling reagents. These methods allow for the generation of pure cultures which can be used for microbial identification and determination of antimicrobial resistance.

The invention enables efficient, rapid, and sensitive enumeration of living cells by detecting microscopic colonies derived from in situ cell division using large area imaging. Microbial enumeration tests based on the invention address an important problem in clinical and industrial microbiology—the long time needed for detection in traditional tests—while retaining key advantages of the traditional methods based on microbial culture. Embodiments of the invention include non-destructive aseptic methods for detecting cellular microcolonies without labeling reagents. These methods allow for the generation of pure cultures which can be used for microbial identification and determination of antimicrobial resistance.

Synthetic antimicrobial peptides, compositions comprising thereof, and methods of use for modulating one or more symptoms of an infection in a subject are disclosed. In some aspects, the infection is caused by mycobacteria, for example, a nontuberculous mycobacterium such as Mycobacterium abscessus. In other aspects, the infection is caused by Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Also disclosed are methods of identifying synthetic antimicrobial peptides against a pathogen with no known effective treatment using a library of synthetic peptides.

Synthetic antimicrobial peptides, compositions comprising thereof, and methods of use for modulating one or more symptoms of an infection in a subject are disclosed. In some aspects, the infection is caused by mycobacteria, for example, a nontuberculous mycobacterium such as Mycobacterium abscessus. In other aspects, the infection is caused by Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Also disclosed are methods of identifying synthetic antimicrobial peptides against a pathogen with no known effective treatment using a library of synthetic peptides.

The subject matter of the instant invention relates to methods of compounding compositions comprising bacteriophage effective for treating bacterial infections, including but not limited to, multidrug resistant bacterial infections. The invention also relates to compositions, bacterial diversity sets, and phage libraries prepared according to the methods of the instant invention.

The subject matter of the instant invention relates to methods of compounding compositions comprising bacteriophage effective for treating bacterial infections, including but not limited to, multidrug resistant bacterial infections. The invention also relates to compositions, bacterial diversity sets, and phage libraries prepared according to the methods of the instant invention.

The invention relates to a method for the preparation of living, microbial samples and microorganisms for subsequent mass spectrometric measurement and evaluation. Findings which can be derived from such a measurement can particularly serve the faster identification of microorganisms in the microbial sample according to species/subspecies and/or the fast determination of resistance/sensitivity of the microorganisms to antimicrobial substances and/or the further characterization of microorganisms, for example in respect of pathogenicity, virulence and metabolism. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the preparation particularly takes place directly on a mass spectrometric sample support.