A recent paper by the GibsonGroup has been highlighted in RSC Chemistry World, and also selected as a 'hot' article in Molecular Biosystems. This work, in collaboration with the FullamGroup, describes a new method for identfiying bacteria, by creating 'barcodes' describing how bacteria bind to different sugars. In the work, the team assembled small arrays of simple sugars onto a surface, and then mapped how different bacteria bind to them. This allowed a trianing matrix to be developed, so unknown bacteria could then be identified. The key to this is its simplicity and scalable to a range of different biosensory surfaces. In this preliminary work, a range of Gram Negative and Gram Postive Mycobacteria were tested and identified. This included surrogates for Mycobacterium Tubuculosis. It is hoped that this will translate to easy point of care biosensors, and to enable more effecient use of antibiotics.

Read the paper here.

Discrimination between bacterial species by ratiometric analysis of their carbohydrate binding profile