We are developing real-time, Point-of-Care biosensor technologies to monitor antimicrobial concentrations within the body on microneedle platforms the size of a postage stamp and on a small handheld device like a blood glucose meter. When paired with closed-loop control and an infusion pump this technology allows us to correct an individual’s dose to an optimised set target to improve patient outcomes and reduce drivers of AMR. This is particularly important for some patient groups where optimising antimicrobial therapy is particularly challenging in (e.g. sepsis, obesity, multi-morbidity), or for resistant microorganisms.

We have also developed a microneedle biosensor to measure the well-known sepsis biomarker, lactate. This device will increase our ability to recognise and treat sepsis early, especially in patients at ward level where measuring lactate is difficult.

Our technological developments include:

• Aptameric and enzyme-based biosensor technology mounted on microneedle and Point of Care (PoC) platforms.
• Minimal and non-invasive sensing of antibiotics, antifungals and biomarkers.
• Artificial intelligence algorithms to correct antimicrobial dosing to achieve a set target.