A MULTIMODAL BIOSENSOR PLATFORM FOR RAPID CHARACTERIZATION OF GUT MICROBIOTA

This study reports on a multimodal biosensor for transversal analysis (MBioTA) platform, which captures taxonomy, viability, and functional genes in individual cells of the microbiota.The platform achieves transversal analysis by harnessing a multimodal single-cell biosensing scheme, a bioinformatic taxonomical probe design workflow, a scalable microwell array, and automated image processing algorithms.The platform implements quantitative microbial profiling in as few as two hours.To detect low biomass samples, we incorporated an automated imaging analysis workflow for quantitative analysis of over 350,000 bacteria in a single sample, demonstrating a limit of detection of 0.0075%.We showed the applicability of the platform by studying the composition, viability, and functionality of the gut microbiota of a familial Alzheimer's disease mouse model (5xFAD) and unveiled unique patterns compared to wild-type mice.