Rapid Phenotypic Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing with Multichannel Large-Volume Scattering Imaging and a Bayesian Gaussian Process Model

Multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial infections present a great challenge to healthcare, particularly during life-threatening conditions, such as septic shock. In these critical cases, testing delays are life-threatening, as patient mortality increases by 7.6% for each hour without effective antibiotics. To overcome these issues, we have developed a multichannel <u>L</u>arge-<u>V</u>olume <u>S</u>cattering <u>im</u>aging (LVSim) system for rapid and precise phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) determination. This system simultaneously monitors up to eight sample/drug conditions over time. A Bayesian Gaussian process model is employed to analyze the temporal dynamics of bacterial growth for rapid MIC determination. We validated our method with <i>Escherichia coli</i>, a model bacterial strain, and two <i>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</i> strains─one model reference strain and one slow-growing MDR clinical isolate─and achieved rapid MIC determination within 2 h. The multiplexed LVSim system offers a promising rapid AST solution to combat MDR infections.