Trends in Biotechnology
Volume 35, Issue 12, December 2017, Pages 1129-1139
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Opinion
Microfluidics for Combating Antimicrobial Resistance

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2017.07.008Get rights and content

Trends

Fueled by the large-scale use of antibiotics, antimicrobial resistance has become a global issue that threatens public health with bacterial infections impossible to treat, demanding immediate, effective, and innovative solutions.

Recent advances in microfluidics demonstrated the possibility of employing this new technology in addressing key problems in AMR. The advantages in terms of speed, accuracy, and throughput, as well as new capabilities are of important value for us to better understand, monitor, and control AMR.

Several obstacles remain in the way of translating microfluidic research output into products, and the challenge of AMR represents an opportunity for this field to gain wider acceptance from end users.

The ever-growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) demands immediate countermeasures. With its novelty and enabling features including downscaled analysis, precisely controlled local environment, and enhanced speed, accuracy, and cost-efficiency, microfluidics has demonstrated potential in several key areas, including furthering our understanding of bacteria, developing better susceptibility testing tools, and overcoming obstacles in discovery and research of new antibiotics. While ample research results in the field of microfluidics are available, their transformation into practical application is still lagging far behind. We believe that the challenge of AMR will give microfluidics a much-needed opportunity to leap from research papers to true productivity, and gain wider acceptance as a mature technology.

Section snippets

Antimicrobial Resistance Demands Innovative Solutions

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR; see Glossary), a natural phenomenon where microbes become resistant to antibiotics, has become an imminent threat to global public health and the modern society. The large-scale use of antibiotics and issues associated with the practice have greatly accelerated the progress of AMR, rendering these once ‘panaceas’ largely ineffective and leaving us without the important defense against many pathogenic microbes. The looming ‘post-antibiotic age’ is closer than ever,

The Threat of AMR

Huge quantities of antibiotics are used annually around the globe, and the numbers are expected to rise continuously 1, 2, 3. This tips the balance in favor of resistant strains, as the drugs act as a selection pressure, especially when they are misused or overused. Approximately 80% of human antibiotic consumption occurs outside the hospital [3], which limits professional guidance and leads to many mistakes, such as taking antibiotics to treat common cold, which is usually caused by viruses.

Microfluidics Addressing Key Issues in AMR

Microfluidics is an innovative and expanding field of research involving multiple disciplines in science and engineering. Its general background was well-summarized by Whitesides [11], while others have reviewed its application and potential in biology, chemistry, and medicine 12, 13. In dealing with tiny volumes of fluid on devices bearing features at the micrometer level, microfluidic systems and tools bring the scale of experimentation and analysis down drastically, resulting in distinct

Concluding Remarks and Future Perspectives

‘Good against remotes is one thing. Good against the living, that’s something else.’ For employing microfluidics to combat key aspects of AMR, the former has been demonstrated well in research studies, while the latter has yet to be proven. While the advantages to be gained in speed, efficiency, and cost, as well as in those new capabilities, are fascinating, microfluidics has to show its utility and feasibility in places it is expected to shine. Among those examples of research, few used real

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Hong Kong Baptist University (FRG2/15-16/002, FRG2/16-17/062, SDF 03-17-096), Hong Kong RGC (22200515), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21575121).

Glossary

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
the ability of a microorganism to prevent an antimicrobial agent from working against it, rendering standard treatment ineffective.
Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST)
experiments conducted to determine if a strain of bacteria is sensitive to certain antibiotics. Results can be qualitative or quantitative, and are used to guide prescription of suitable drugs at proper dosage.
Empirical prescription
prescribing antimicrobial drugs based on experience and educated

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