| Abstract: |
Urinary tract infections (UTIs), and in particular cystitis, are one of the most common hospital-acquired infections in a wide range of countries such as Spain, especially among patients using urinary catheters. Cystitis usually occurs when the urethra and bladder become infected with bacteria, being Escherichia coli the most common causative agent (75%-95%). Moreover, acute cystitis remains one of the most common indications for the prescription of antimicrobials to healthy women, increasing antimicrobial resistance among the urinary pathogens that cause acute cystitis. That is the reason why the design of a pen-site kit for the detection of antimicrobial resistance genes, which exceeds the limitations of the other remaining diagnostic techniques, is essential. This kit will facilitate the treatment of cystitis in order to be able to select the most appropriate treatment in a fast and individualized way. The aim of the present Final Master Thesis focuses on the realization of a proof of concept of a microfluidic technology that will be applied for the development of the kit. This proof includes the development of a protocol of a DNA test on microspheres and the study of its implementation in a microfluidic device in which to perform the assay in an automated way. Results suggests that the limit of detection that we will have inside the chip will be lower than the one of the ELISA reader used to make the comparison, allowing us to detect lower concentrations of target DNA. Nevertheless, the obtained absorbance results are higher in the ELISA reader than in our device. In conclusion, evidence has been obtained showing that the use of the microfluidic technology on which the developed chip is based may offer more advantages than preexisting diagnostic techniques. This makes the test realization faster, cheaper and safer, among others. |
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