Approximately 50 million people suffer from sepsis yearly, and 13 million die from it. For every hour a patient with septic shock is untreated, their survival rate decreases by 8%. Therefore, rapid detection and antibiotic susceptibility profiling of bacterial agents in the blood of sepsis patients are crucial for determining appropriate treatment. Here, we introduce a method to isolate bacteria from whole blood with high separation efficiency through Smart centrifugation , followed by microfluidic trapping and subsequent detection using deep learning applied to microscopy images. We detected, within 2 h, E. coli , K. pneumoniae , or E. faecalis from spiked samples of healthy human donor blood at clinically relevant concentrations as low as 9, 7 and 32 colony-forming units per ml of blood, respectively. However, the detection of S. aureus remains a challenge. This rapid isolation and detection represents a significant advancement towards culture-free detection of bloodstream infections.

Microphysiological systems (MPS) are advanced in vitro platforms engineered to replicate in vivo conditions for studying human biology, disease mechanisms, and drug responses with greater physiological relevance. Fluorescence sensing is widely used as a functional readout in MPS due to its high sensitivity, selectivity, and stability. However, conventional fluorescence sensing systems often rely on bulky instrumentation with limited integration, which restricts continuous in situ monitoring, scalable high-throughput analysis, and spatially resolved investigation in multi-organ-on-a-chip models. To address these limitations, we present a highly miniaturized, fully integrated optical system with a 1 mm² footprint, enabling continuous in situ fluorescence monitoring of three-dimensional microtissues in close proximity. The system integrates microscale illumination and sensing units for fluorescence excitation and selective detection, an optical element for guided light propagation, and a microcage for mechanical confinement of microtissues. To demonstrate its capabilities, we integrated the miniaturized optical system with an MPS-relevant platform to monitor fluorescence signals in transgenic mouse pancreatic islets expressing genetically encoded calcium indicators. The integrated platform enables real-time, continuous monitoring of islet responses to potassium chloride stimulation and tracking of calcium oscillations for over two hours, providing valuable information about the functional status of the pancreatic islets. Our work enhances the analytical capabilities of MPS through the integration of miniaturized on-chip quantitative assessment tools, enabling precise, in situ, and continuous monitoring of biological activities in close proximity.

Sepsis has an incidence of 50 million cases per year and represents a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Current diagnostic methods rely on blood drawn directly into blood culture media in hemoculture bottles, followed by culturing, often taking days to yield results and failing to meet urgent clinical needs. We present here a protocol for isolating and identifying bacteria from blood within 12 h after sampling, bypassing prior hemocultures. Starting from blood added into blood culture media, according to standard hospital sampling practice, we isolated up to 85% of bacteria at clinically-relevant concentrations in less than 15 min using an optimized centrifugation protocol. Subsequent overnight culture of the isolated bacteria on chromogenic agar plates enabled species identification of five of the most prevalent sepsis-causing bacteria. The rapidity and simplicity of the protocol may accelerate the diagnostic pipeline for sepsis patients. Moreover, the use of standard laboratory equipment may enable direct translation to clinical praxis and concatenation with downstream assays for antibiotic susceptibility testing.

Sepsis is a time‐critical condition causing over 13 million deaths annually, with each hour of treatment delay in patients with septic shock increasing mortality by 8%. Rapid pathogen identification is crucial, yet current workflows depend on multiple culture steps that delay pathogen identification and targeted treatment by days. A plug‐and‐play, fully automated centrifuge tube is presented that isolates and concentrates bacteria directly from blood or blood culture using only conventional lab centrifuges. Each tube can process 7.5 ml of sample and yields, within 40 min, a 0.7 mL clear suspension with greater than threefold enhanced bacteria concentration and 99.9% blood cell rejection, ready for downstream detection. It is demonstrated that this approach supports key diagnostic workflows, including 1) a novel isolate‐then‐culture strategy detecting bacterial concentrations as low as 10 CFU/mL; 2) direct matrix‐assisted laser desorption ionization time‐of‐flight (MALDI‐TOF) identification, bypassing subculturing, and; 3) microfluidic single‐cell detection. This fully automated platform is compatible with existing centrifuges, is anticipated to facilitate broader adoption in routine clinical practice, while its ability to enable rapid, same‐workshift bacterial enhancement can reduce diagnostic time by about one day in the context of time‐critical sepsis diagnostics.

Purpose

Urinary Tract InfectionAQ1 (UTI) affects over 400 million people annually and globally and is a major reason for empiric antibiotic prescription by general practitioners (GPs).

Background

A problem related to microbiological UTI diagnosis is the current lack of point of care (POC) diagnostics. In addition, remote settings, including low and middle income countries (LMIC), are hard to service. Compliance with requirements posed by the In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR) and adherence to guidelines as defined by professional user groups are mandatory to pursue. In addition, the World Health Organisation (WHO) promotes optimization of antimicrobial use and more adequate microbiological diagnostics to cure UTI and combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Methods

Miniaturised chromogenic bacterial cultivation including rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing (RAST) at the POC can be successfully used for the diagnosis of UTI. Using small and cost-effective dipsticks containing chromogenic cultivation media, UTI-causing bacteria can be detected, quantified and identified with good sensitivity and specificity.

Conclusion

Access to such trustworthy, easy-to-use and cost-efficient diagnostic tools at the POC would offer more timely results for optimised antibiotic treatment. This will improve UTI therapy and prevent AMR.

Biofilms constitute one of the most common forms of living matter, playing an increasingly important role in technology, health, and ecology. While it is well established that biofilm growth and morphology are highly dependent on the external flow environment, the precise role of fluid friction has remained elusive. We grew Bacillus subtilis biofilms on flat surfaces of a channel in a laminar flow at wall shear stresses spanning one order of magnitude (τw = 0.068 Pa to τw = 0.67 Pa). By monitoring the three-dimensional distribution of biofilm over seven days, we found that the biofilms consist of smaller microcolonies, shaped like leaning pillars, many of which feature a streamer in the form of a thin filament that originates near the tip of the pillar. While the shape, size, and distribution of these microcolonies depend on the imposed shear stress, the same structural features appear consistently for all shear stress values. The formation of streamers occurs after the development of a base structure, suggesting that the latter induces a secondary flow that triggers streamer formation. Moreover, we observed that the biofilm volume grows approximately linearly over seven days for all shear stress values, with a growth rate inversely proportional to the wall shear stress. We develop a scaling model, providing insight into the mechanisms by which friction limits biofilm growth.

Hybridizing biological cells with man-made sensors enable the detection of a wide range of weak physiological responses with high specificity. The anterior chamber of the eye (ACE) is an ideal transplantation site due to its ocular immune privilege and optical transparency, which enable superior non-invasive longitudinal analyses of cells and microtissues. Engraftment of biohybrid microstructures in the ACE might, however, be affected by the pupillary response and dynamics. Here, sutureless transplantation of biohybrid microstructures, 3D printed in IP-Visio photoresin, containing a precisely localized pancreatic islet to the ACE of mice is presented. The biohybrid microstructures allow mechanical fixation in the ACE, independent of iris dynamics. After transplantation, islets in the microstructures successfully sustain their functionality for over 20 weeks and become vascularized despite physical separation from the vessel source (iris) and immersion in a low-viscous liquid (aqueous humor) with continuous circulation and clearance. This approach opens new perspectives in biohybrid microtissue transplantation in the ACE, advancing monitoring of microtissue-host interactions, disease modeling, treatment outcomes, and vascularization in engineered tissues.

Aims: Current endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) is suboptimal in the assessment of pancreatic cystic lesions (PCLs). We developed a new through-the needle loop device, to improve the cellular yield, and thereby sensitivity, of EUS fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) of pancreatic cysts.

In this in-vivo animal randomized controlled trial (RCT), we aim to test the cell yield and safety profile of this through the needle loop device using artificial cysts, comparing it with the standard procedure, EUS-FNA.

Methods: This was an in-vivo randomized controlled trial in pigs using artificial cysts. In one group, the new device was deployed through a 22G EUS-FNA needle into the cysts. In the control group, cystic punction was performed with standard EUS-FNA. New devices were visually inspected post-procedure. Cytological assessment, cell counting, and hemoglobin analysis were performed in samples from both groups.

Results: Artificial cysts (n=114) were punctured in six pigs, 57 in each group. Neither adverse events nor significant device malfunction occurred during brushing with the new loop device. Samples collected with the loop had non-detectable concentrations of hemoglobin in 72% (41/57) of cases, and 26% (16/57) had less than 0.6 g/dL, with no significant difference to the controls (p=0.32). There was significantly increased cell counts with the new device (11.7×median difference, p<.0001). Cytological smears were diagnostic in 77% of cases in the device group, while 54% in the control group (p=0.01, Fisher’s exact test; p=0.006, Chi-square test).

Conclusions: This novel loop device appears to be safe, causing neither significant bleeding nor device malfunction. Samples obtained with the loop brush were suitable for cytological analysis and showed significantly higher cell yield than controls. Further clinical studies are warranted.

Lubricated textured surfaces immersed in liquid flows offer tremendous potential for reducing fluid drag, enhancing heat and mass transfer, and preventing fouling. According to current design rules, the lubricant must chemically match the surface to remain robustly trapped within the texture. However, achieving such chemical compatibility poses a significant challenge for large-scale flow systems, as it demands advanced surface treatments or severely limits the range of viable lubricants. In addition, chemically tuned surfaces often degrade over time in harsh environments. Here, we demonstrate that a lubricant-infused surface (LIS) can resist drainage in the presence of external shear flow without requiring chemical compatibility. Surfaces featuring longitudinal grooves can retain up to 50% of partially wetting lubricants in fully developed turbulent flows. The retention relies on contact-angle hysteresis, where triple-phase contact lines are pinned to substrate heterogeneities, creating capillary resistance that prevents lubricant depletion. We develop an analytical model to predict the maximum length of pinned lubricant droplets in microgrooves. This model, validated through a combination of experiments and numerical simulations, can be used to design chemistry-free LISs for applications where the external environment is continuously flowing. Our findings open up new possibilities for using functional surfaces to control transport processes in large systems.