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Test method for the determination of multi-resistant tuberculosis pathogens

Scientists, physicians and medical device manufacturers from the InfectoGnostics Research Campus Jena are jointly developing a new test method to safely and quickly diagnose tuberculosis pathogens and their resistance potential at the site of occurrence.

Tuberculosis is one of the most common and serious infectious diseases. The number of multi-drug resistant pathogens is increasing and makes treatment difficult. Only the quick recognition of the pathogen and its potential antibiotic resistance ensures optimal therapy and thus slows the further spread through the air. Scientists, physicians and medical device manufacturers from the InfectoGnostics Research Campus Jena are jointly developing a new test method to safely and quickly diagnose tuberculosis pathogens and their resistance potential at the site of occurrence.

World Tuberculosis Day is on 24 March - exactly 132 years ago in Berlin, Robert Koch announced the discovery of the tuberculosis bacterium. On the basis of this scientific achievement was it finally possible to develop a therapy against the disease from which one in seven Europeans died at the time. The WHO estimates that 1.3 million people worldwide die each year from tuberculosis and 8.6 million are newly infected. Although the number of deaths have fallen slightly, antibiotic resistance and spread are increasing at the same time.  On the occasion of World Tuberculosis Day, InfectoGnostics board member Prof. Michael Bauer from the University Hospital Jena makes reference to this issue and emphasises: "Antibiotics as weapons against tuberculosis lose their effectiveness if the treating physician does not know the resistance potential of the pathogen. Therefore, we not only need better therapeutic agents, but also new ways of diagnosing infectious pathogens."

With the financial support of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Free State of Thuringia and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), scientists at the InfectoGnostics Research Campus Jena want to revolutionise the determination of pathogens and their drug resistance. Their vision: A compact unit which provides test results in the shortest possible time - even directly in developing countries strongly affected by tuberculosis. "The people there do not have special labs, no special training, and above all they do not have this: The ability to wait weeks for the results - that is how long conventional diagnostic methods take, "says Prof. Jürgen Popp, spokesman for InfectoGnostics, professor at the University of Jena and Scientific Director of the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (IPHT). "We want to help these people with fast analysis methods that are usable on-site and determine the pathogen as well as its resistance potential," said Popp.

It is only through cooperation with industrial partners that we can produce affordable solutions available in large quantities in order to win the race against the spread of disease through rapid diagnostics. Partners of the research campus, such as Alere Technologies, already have extensive experience in the field of on-site diagnosis of HIV, which is helpful in the research and development of methods for the determination of tuberculosis.

To achieve the ambitious goals, physicists, chemists, biologists, physicians and manufacturers have been working together from the beginning in the "Fast-TB" project. This type of cooperation is one of the unique features of InfectoGnostics.

InfectoGnostics – Jena Research Campus
The InfectoGnostics Research Campus in Jena is developing new methods in the diagnosis of infections and pathogens. In a triad of technology, application and production, 38 partners from science, medicine and industry want to develop marketable methods for rapid and cost-effective on-site analysis over the next 15 years. More than 1,000 square metres of laboratory and office space in the Centre for Applied Research and the adjacent Institute of Physical Chemistry at Friedrich Schiller University are available to the participating partners. The research campus is funded by the BMBF, with resources from the Free State of Thuringia, and by the EU. About half of the required budget is financed by the participating partners from research and industry.