# Rapid and automated detection of bloodborne pathogens for improved treatment and antimicrobial stewardship

> **NIH NIH R43** · AINCOBIO LLC · 2022 · $302,714

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Sepsis is a life-threatening condition caused by bacterial infection of the bloodstream that threatens nearly two
million lives in the U.S. annually. Risk of death escalates quickly once bacteria or fungi enter the bloodstream;
thus, quick and accurate detection of bloodborne pathogens is critical to inform immediate tailored treatment.
However, the current standard practice to detect bloodborne bacteria and fungi requires in vitro culture to
measure microbial growth, a process which takes 12-120 hours, with times to a confirmed negative sometimes
taking as long as 5 days. Positive cultures then undergo additional tests to determine bacterial identity and
antimicrobial susceptibility. This protracted process, which includes significant pre-analytical delays caused by
sample transport to off-site microbiology labs and long culture times, represents a critical bottleneck in the
diagnostic laboratory workflow, creating significant economic and labor burden to the healthcare system and
prolonging the time that patients may be receiving inappropriate treatment (broad spectrum antimicrobial drugs
instead of targeted therapy). Aincobio is developing a rapid, near patient in vitro diagnostic test, the BactoPhore,
that can be deployed outside of the centralized lab to isolate and detect intact and viable low-concentration
bacteria and fungi in blood specimens in 2 hours. BactoPhore achieves enhanced analytical sensitivity by rapidly
concentrating pathogens for detection to deliver a positive result quickly. To do this, BactoPhore incorporates a
“lab-on-a-chip” system that can isolate microbes from 0.5 mL whole blood using dielectrophoresis (DEP) and
detect metabolic signatures using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) within a low-cost consumable.
A diagnostic prototype of the BactoPhore isolates >90% of target bacteria in 30 minutes and can detect 100
CFUs of E. coli within 2 hours. Further, target microbes pre-concentrated from 10 mL of whole blood can be
trapped by DEP in <30 minutes, demonstrating the potential for processing clinically relevant volumes. In this
Phase I SBIR, Aincobio will demonstrate feasibility of commercializing the BactoPhore test for label-free,
antibody-independent, and culture-independent detection, concentration, and isolation of low abundance and
viable bacterial and fungal pathogens by 1) evaluating the integrated BactoPhore prototype with common
pathogens spiked into whole blood, and 2) demonstrating that BactoPhore enables rapid and sensitive
downstream sequencing of the target microbe by depleting host DNA prior to extraction and library preparation.
Completion of these aims will establish proof-of-concept that BactoPhore has analytical sensitivity to confirm
infection from whole blood within 2 hours and significantly improve time-to-results for the entire diagnostic
workflow from positive result to pathogen identification.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10546973
- **Project number:** 1R43AI172505-01
- **Recipient organization:** AINCOBIO LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** Lorenzo Damico
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $302,714
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-08-01 → 2025-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10546973

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10546973, Rapid and automated detection of bloodborne pathogens for improved treatment and antimicrobial stewardship (1R43AI172505-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-08 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10546973. Licensed CC0.

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