A lab-on-a-silicon-chip platform for all-electrical antibiotic susceptibility tests with a sample-to-results time within 20 minutes

TL;DR

This paper introduces a silicon-chip platform that performs rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing within 20 minutes by integrating nanowire sensors and microfluidics, enabling quick, portable, and cost-effective bacterial diagnostics.

Contribution

The study presents a novel lab-on-a-silicon-chip system that eliminates pre-cultivation, providing rapid, all-electrical AST results suitable for point-of-care use.

Findings

Achieves sample-to-result time within 20 minutes for E. coli strains.

Uses silicon nanowire sensors to detect metabolic pH shifts electrically.

Offers a low-cost, portable solution for rapid bacterial diagnostics.

Abstract

Rapid antibiotic susceptibility tests (ASTs) are essential for quick selection of effective drugs to treat bacterial infections at an early stage. However, the most widely used phenotypic ASTs in clinical practice often require 24 - 48 hours of pre-culture enrichment and 8 - 20 hours of testing. They are too slow for patients to wait for therapy, even with the most rapid protocol. Here, we report a lab-on-a-silicon chip (LOSC) system, which integrates arrays of silicon nanowire field-effect transistor (SiNWFET) sensors with high-throughput cell-collection microfluidics for rapid ASTs. The microfluidics concentrate bacteria into picoliter-scale chambers within minutes, eliminating the need for any pre-cultivation. Embedded SiNWFETs sensitively track antibiotic-induced metabolic pH shifts. Using an unbuffered culturing medium, LOSC achieves sample-to-result times within 20 minutes for clinically isolated E. coli strains. With its electrical readout and compact design, LOSC offers a low-cost, rapid, and portable AST solution for point-of-care diagnostics.