A novel microbead-based microfluidic device for rapid bacterial identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing

Effective treatment of infectious diseases depends on the ability to rapidly identify the infecting bacteria and the use of sensitive antibiotics. The currently used identification assays usually take more than 72 h to perform and have a low sensitivity. Herein, we present a microbead-based microfluidic platform that is highly sensitive and rapid for bacterial detection and antibiotic sensitivity testing. The platform includes four units, one of which is used for bacterial identification and the other three are used for susceptibility testing. Our results showed that Escherichia coli O157 at a cell density range of 10¹–10⁵ CFU/μL could be detected within 30 min. Additionally, the effects of three antibiotics on E. coli O157 were evaluated within 4–8 h. Overall, this integrated microbead-based microdevice provides a sensitive, rapid, reliable, and highly effective platform for the identification of bacteria, as well as antibiotic sensitivity testing.