Towards a Universal Diagnostic Test for Infection Using Rapid Nanopore Metagenomics

Abstract
The rise in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is predicted to cause 10 million deaths per year by 2050 unless steps are taken to prevent this looming crisis. Microbiological culture is the gold standard for the diagnosis of bacterial/fungal pathogens and antimicrobial resistance and takes 48 hours or longer. Hence, antibiotic prescriptions are rarely based on a definitive diagnosis and patients often receive inappropriate treatment. Rapid diagnostic tools are urgently required to guide appropriate antimicrobial therapy, thereby improving patient outcomes and slowing the development of AMR. In this talk, I will discuss the application of sequencing technology for the diagnosis of infection, focusing on rapid (~6hr) nanopore sequencing based clinical metagenomics.