Using biosensors to deliver personalized doses of antibiotics

A team of eight EPFL students won the technical prize in the SensUs international competition, designing a portable biosensor that can measure the amount of vancomycin in a patient's blood stream, enabling doctors to better control the dosage and reduce harmful side effects. Their technology - developed for the upcoming SensUs international competition - could eventually be used for other antibiotics as well. At EPFL's Discovery Learning Labs (DLL) - educational facilities designed to promote cross-disciplinary research - a groundbreaking new device is in the works. Eight Master's students in microengineering, bioengineering and life sciences ( SenSwiss ) developed a portable biosensor for the SensUs competition, which was held at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands on 7-8 September 2018. Their device can provide precise measurements of the amount of vancomycin, an antibiotic used as a last-resort treatment, in a patient's blood plasma. This information will help doctors deliver exactly the amount of drug needed and therefore reduce the occurrence of harmful side effects. For instance, vancomycin is known to cause damage to the kidneys and to hearing.