{"id":535,"date":"2025-10-20T13:32:36","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T13:32:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.sciencepicker.com\/?p=535"},"modified":"2025-10-20T13:32:36","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T13:32:36","slug":"early-detection-of-infection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/early-detection-of-infection\/","title":{"rendered":"Early detection of infection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Within\nseconds of an injury to our human body skin, bacteria start to establish on the\nwound. Most minor wounds still heal the skin and tissues underneath repair\nthemselves. But if the wound becomes infected, inflammation and tissue damaged\nwill slow the healing process and lead to critical problems if not treated timely.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toby Jenkins and colleagues at the\nUniversity of Bath have invented a technology to help healthcare workers detect\ninfection<\/strong> early; by harnessing bacterial toxins as a warning system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As bacteria establish the wound<\/strong>\nand start developing biofilms, they begin producing toxins. These break down\ntissue, freeing up cell components that the bacteria need to grow, as well as\nproviding a way to penetrate further into the tissue. It is these toxins that\ncause a lot of the clinical symptoms of infection<\/strong>, such as tissue\ndamage, pain, smell and heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jenkins says, \u2018Our idea was that the\ntoxins are what signifies a wound<\/strong> becoming infected<\/strong>. \u2018we can\nmeasure them at low concentrations before they begin to cause tissue damage.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jenkins and his team encapsulated fluorescent\ndye inside phospholipid vesicles designed to be attacked by bacterial toxins.\nThe tiny spheres of lipid and fatty acids are about 100-200nm in diameter. Once\nin contact with a vesicle, the toxins either pierce holes in them or start to\ndissolve the lipid away. This releases the warning dye, turning whatever the\nvesicles are carried in a bright green color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge, Jenkins says, was\ndesigning the vesicles to be stable for up to 18 months without falling apart,\nbut also sensitive enough to rupture under a toxin attack. Working out the\nprecise formulation of lipid and fatty acids took \u2018two PhD students and lots of\ntedious empirical work\u2019, he remembers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Past the lab<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The team is about to test the\nSpace sensor in Bristol hospital\u2019s burns unit. \u2018If the trial goes well, I\u2019d\nlike to think we\u2019ll be on the home straight,\u2019 Jenkins says. The next step would\nbe to spin a company out from the university and begin to take Space as well\nas the chemistry\u2019s<\/strong> other applications to market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jenkins also sees the technology\nbeing applied to chronic wounds<\/strong> and diabetic ulcers. \u2018Ultimately, we\nwant to combine it with a release system so that as well as diagnosing infection<\/strong>,\nwe can start treating wounds<\/strong>,\u2019 he says. \u2018I\u2019d like to aim towards\ncreating a semi-autonomous surveillance treatment medical device or wound<\/strong>\ndressing<\/strong>.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Jenkins hopes to take\nthe Space sensor into a social enterprise as well. Burns are a significant\nproblem in Sub-Saharan Africa<\/strong>, so the team intends to set up some trials\nthere. \u2018We think our swab sensor system could be a perfect technology to use in\nmissionary hospitals in faraway places because it\u2019s very easy to use, stable\nfor transport and very cheap,\u2019 Jenkins says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He estimates each swab will cost\nunder a pound. If the trials are successful the team would work with\nphilanthropic organizations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation<\/strong>\nto distribute the swab sensors at either a low price or for free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Within seconds of an injury to our human body skin, bacteria start to establish on the wound. Most minor wounds still heal the skin and tissues underneath repair themselves. But if the wound becomes infected, inflammation and tissue damaged will slow the healing process and lead to critical problems if not treated timely. Toby Jenkins […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":231,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chemistry-and-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":822,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535\/revisions\/822"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}