Rapid test for microbial resistances by mass spectrometry
OwnerKatrin Sparbier, Beatrix Wegemanninventors
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Abstract
The invention relates to methods and instruments for determining the resistances of microbes to antibiotics, in particular those microbes which produce beta-lactamases. The method determines the resistance of the microbes in less than an hour by incubating a tiny quantity of the microbes on a mass spectrometric sample support plate after they have been combined with a dosed quantity of a suitable antibiotic, for example the beta-lactam antibiotic imipenem, and by direct mass spectrometric measurement of the breakdown of the antibiotic by the microbial enzymes.
Claims23
A method for determining the resistance of a microbial sample to an antibiotic, the method comprising:
- providing a flat sample support plate having a test site coated with a dosed quantity of the antibiotic and with one or more reference substances;
- combining the microbial sample and the antibiotic in a volume of liquid on the test site to form a measurement sample;
- and
- analyzing the measurement sample by a mass spectrometric measurement to determine whether the antibiotic is enzymatically modified.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.