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Toward Enhanced Selection of Antibiotics in a Hospital Laboratory-Development of a Rapid Electrochemical Antimicrobial Sensitivity Test for Urinary Tract Infections

Lookup NU author(s): Amanda Winter, Dr David Price

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance poses a major global health threat, often driven by empirical antibiotic use due to the relatively slow (24-72 h) diagnostic pathway for urinary tract infections (UTIs). Due to their low cost and ease of multiplexing, electrochemical biosensors offer a promising alternative. Herein, we report on the Microplate Dx RapidPlate platform, a rapid electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS)-based approach for accelerated antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) directly from urine samples, without pre-treatment. This report charts the evolution of the core EIS-based AST measurement from a laboratory prototype into a fully realized Alpha prototype platform with an accompanying 32-channel electrochemical cartridge designed specifically for interrogation of urine samples. A total of 89 clinically derived urine samples were evaluated at three clinical sites (U.K. and India), with results compared against standard methods (VITEK 2 and disk diffusion). The impedance-based RapidPlate system detected bacterial growth within 50 min and provided susceptibility profiles by 85 min, with 95% concordance to reference tests. Consistent performance was demonstrated across diverse clinical settings and organisms, including Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. The RapidPlate AST system has demonstrated great potential as a cost-effective, point-of-care tool for rapid AST, supporting and improving UTI management and antimicrobial stewardship.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Ralston H, Butterworth A, Clark B, Katsafadou M, Vezza V, Campbell T, Malecha M, Murphy ME, Poojary A, Winter A, Price D, Marrs E, Longmuir A, Hannah S, Hoskisson PA, Corrigan DK

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: ACS Sensors

Year: 2026

Volume: 11

Issue: 2

Pages: 1041-1049

Print publication date: 27/02/2026

Online publication date: 13/02/2026

Acceptance date: 23/01/2026

Date deposited: 16/03/2026

ISSN (electronic): 2379-3694

Publisher: American Chemical Society

URL: https://doi.org/10.1021/acssensors.5c02725

DOI: 10.1021/acssensors.5c02725

Data Access Statement: The Supporting Information is available free of charge at https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssensors.5c02725. Antibiotic concentrations, data modeling process, clinical sample species, and RapidPlate (TM) alignment to hospital AST for each of the three clinics.

PubMed id: 41686157

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