An electrothermal bioprocessor with centimeter-scale fluid motion for acute bacterial infection diagnostics in resource-limited settings

This study reports a long-range electrothermal bioprocessor for rapid concentration and isolation of bacterial pathogens and on-chip antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST). Antibiotic resistance is a major global health threat, and rapid microbiological analysis, including pathogen identification and AST, is required for proper management of acute bacterial infections. Using a long-range electrothermal fluid phenomenon we identified recently [1], we design a bioprocessor that concentrates bacterial pathogens for ~3 orders of magnitude (from cm to µm scale) in physiological samples for in situ detection and downstream molecular analysis. By properly controlling the temperature and velocity profiles, we demonstrate the bioprocessor for sample enrichment and on-chip AST in as little as 30 minutes.