Hydrogels and Uses Thereof

A device for rapidly determining the susceptibility of a microorganism in an aqueous biological sample to an antimicrobial agent comprising:

• a) a multi-chamber plate, wherein:
• (i) at least a first chamber comprises a growth medium, a first dye, and a desiccated hydrogel;
• and
• (ii) at least a second chamber comprises a growth medium, a first dye, a desiccated hydrogel, and a first antimicrobial agent that inhibits or slows the proliferation of the, or a, microorganism;
• and
• (iii) wherein the first and second chambers are connected to one or more conduits for enabling at least part of the aqueous biological sample to be fed into each chamber;
• and
• b) an imaging device for imaging and analysing one or more chambers after the biological sample has been introduced into the chamber and the hydrogel has been at least partially hydrated.

A method for rapidly determining the susceptibility of a microorganism in an aqueous biological sample to an antimicrobial agent comprising the steps:

• a) contacting:
• (i) a portion of the biological sample containing the microorganism with a growth medium, a first dye, and a desiccated hydrogel in a first chamber;
• and
• (ii) another portion of the biological sample containing the microorganism with a growth medium, a first dye, a desiccated hydrogel, and a first antimicrobial agent that inhibits or slows the growth or proliferation of the, or a, microorganism in a second chamber by connecting the first and second chambers to one or more conduits for enabling at least part of the aqueous biological sample to be fed into each chamber;
• b) incubating the samples in the first and second chambers for a period of time under conditions effective to enable or encourage growth or proliferation of the microorganism and to at least partially hydrate the hydrogel;
• c) imaging the first and second chambers and analysing the images to assess the bacterial cell number and/or bacterial morphology and/or fluorescence signal of the bacterial cells in the first and second chambers during and/or after incubation so as to determine the growth or proliferation characteristics of the microorganism in the first chamber relative the inhibition of growth or inhibition of proliferation characteristics of the microorganism in the second chamber containing the antimicrobial agent;
• and
• d) comparing the characteristics of the microorganisms in the first chamber with that of the second chamber during and/or after incubation, in order to establish the type or strain of microorganism and/or susceptibility of a microorganism to the antimicrobial agent.