'˜Bacteria beaters' win Longitude Prize Discovery Award

Medical scientists at the University of St Andrews have won a prestigious international award for a breakthrough which could help the fight against antibiotic resistance.

St Andrews team develops device which reduces time to test bacteria for resistance

The orbital diagnostics team developed the Scattered Light Integrated Collector (SLIC) to reduce the time taken to test bacteria for resistance. Current testing frequently takes 24 hours to produce a result. The SLIC team can produce a similar result in around 20 minutes.

At an award ceremony held in London at the Royal Society, members of the team were presented with the Longitude Prize Discovery Award.

The UN has identified antibiotic resistant bacteria as a major threat to global health - with an estimated $50 trillion price tag for health care if nothing is done about it.

The new tool aims to help patients get the right treatment faster thus reducing the risk of antibiotic resistance by helping ensure bacteria are not exposed to antibiotics unnecessarily.

The prize will help the team develop a device that can challenge for the coveted Longitude Prize, a challenge with a £10 million prize fund to reward a point of care diagnostic test that helps solve the global problem of bacterial antibiotic resistance.

Team leader Professor Stephen Gillespie, Sir James Black Professor of Medicine at St Andrews, said: “Our very sensitive device detects bacteria in very small numbers. This means when they grow in the presence of antibiotics, we can show that quickly. Conventional tests take up to 24 hours – for some bugs we can now do the same job in less than 20 minutes.

“At the moment this promising test can only be used in the laboratory. The challenge is to turn it into a test that can be used in a doctor’s surgery or a pharmacy.”

Dr Robert Hammond, co-inventor and senior scientist said: “We aim to develop SLIC to enable a person with a suspected urinary [tract] infection to give a sample to a practice nurse or pharmacist - then within two hours be given an antibiotic prescription knowing that the infecting bacteria are susceptible. This will be faster and better for the individual. It will mean that fewer unnecessary prescriptions will be issued, reducing chances that bugs will develop resistance.”

The team is supported by Scottish Enterprise to form a company that will take the SLIC device to market.

Eleanor Mitchell, high growth ventures director at Scottish Enterprise said: “This prestigious award is fantastic recognition of Orbital Diagnostics’ strong progress in developing the SLIC device which has significant global market potential.

“Scottish Enterprise is delighted to be supporting the team to commercialise this emerging technology which exemplifies the strength of innovation in Scotland’s healthcare sector.”