Summary: Multidrug-resistant bacteria are a major threat to human health, but broad-spectrumudantibiotics are losing efficacy. There is a need to screen a given drug againstuda bacterial infection outside of the laboratory. To address this need, we have designedudand built an inexpensive and easy-to-use 3D-printer-based system thatudallows easily readable quantitative tests for the performance of antibacterialuddrugs. The platform creates a sterile diagnostic device by using 3D printing,udand the device is filled automatically with growth medium, and then antibioticsudare sprayed onto the medium by ink-jet technology. The sample for testing canudbe introduced via a fluid port, and the printer hot bed is used to incubate the device,udallowing operation in the field. Combining advantages from various establishedudtests of antibacterial performance, this allows the comparison of a specificudantibiotics and bacteria. Also, this system can create and test several antibioticudformulations for therapeutic use, and we demonstrate this potential by investigatinguda mixture of pathogens that are only killed by a mixture of drugs.
展开▼
