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Nanoparticle sensor can distinguish between viral and bacterial pneumonia

Using this diagnostic, doctors could avoid prescribing antibiotics in cases where they won’t be effective.

Many different types of bacteria and viruses can cause pneumonia, but there is no easy way to determine which microbe is causing a particular patient’s illness. This uncertainty makes it harder for doctors to choose effective treatments because the antibiotics commonly used to treat bacterial pneumonia won’t help patients with viral pneumonia. In addition, limiting the use of antibiotics is an important step toward curbing antibiotic resistance.

MIT researchers have now designed a sensor that can distinguish between viral and bacterial pneumonia infections, which they hope will help doctors to choose the appropriate treatment… Continue reading.

More News from Sangeeta N. Bhatia, MD, Ph.D.

Sangeeta N. Bhatia, MD, Ph.D.
Synthetic Biology and Tissue Engineering Grow Liver Tissue In-Body
Damage to the liver in patients developing end-stage liver disease has become too severe for the organ’s normally extraordinary regenerative capacity to repair or compensate for that damage. Once this point of no return has been reached the only option...
Sangeeta N. Bhatia, MD, Ph.D.
Circadian rhythms can influence drugs’ effectiveness
MIT researchers find circadian variations in liver function play an important role in how drugs are broken down in the body. Giving drugs at different times of day could significantly affect how they are metabolized in the liver, according to a new study...
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Inhalable sensors could enable early lung cancer detection
The diagnostic, which requires only a simple urine test to read the results, could make lung cancer screening more accessible worldwide. Using a new technology developed at MIT, diagnosing lung cancer could become as easy as inhaling nanoparticle sensors...
Sangeeta N. Bhatia, MD, Ph.D.
CRISPR-Cas-amplified urinary biomarkers for multiplexed and portable cancer diagnostics
Synthetic biomarkers, bioengineered sensors that generate molecular reporters in diseased microenvironments, represent an emerging paradigm in precision diagnostics. Despite the utility of DNA barcodes as a multiplexing tool, their susceptibility to nucleases...
Sangeeta N. Bhatia, MD, Ph.D.
Tissue model reveals key players in liver regeneration
By tracing the steps of liver regrowth, MIT engineers hope to harness the liver’s regenerative abilities to help treat chronic disease. The human liver has amazing regeneration capabilities: Even if up to 70 percent of it is removed, the remaining tissue...
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