Symcel, the company behind a cell-based assay tool for real-time cellular bioenergetic measurements, calScreener, has partnered with TiKa Diagnostics and St. George’s University of London for the use of its microcalorimetry technology in testing mycobacteria and for antimicrobial peptide (AMP) studies. The rapid detection of antimicrobial resistance is now crucial to maximize efforts in controlling the prevalence and spread of drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Moreover, the development of novel agents, such as AMPs, able to combat superbugs and interfere with biofilm formation, has become a key necessity.  

The project between Symcel and TiKa Diagnostics, a spin-out from St. George’s University of London, has the potential to enable rapid Mtb culture confirmation, reducing detection time to just two to six days rather than the average 12 to 14 day timespan required using conventional culture testing techniques. Furthermore, faster detection will provide an increased scope for accurately predicting optimal antibiotic treatments for patients. Symcel’s novel detection system will be combined with TiKa Diagnostics’ new method of sample preparation and mycobacterium growth enhancement—overcoming the main challenges that impede the use of mycobacteria in clinical diagnostics. 

Symcel’s calScreener is the world’s first multi-channel micro calorimetry system for antimicrobial susceptibility testing. The technology, which measures heat for accurate diagnostics, is 1000 times more sensitive than fluorescence which enables the much faster detection. TiKa Diagnostics has discovered a compound able to speed up growth of slow growing pathogenic  mycobacteria in cell culture, increasing recovery rates, test sensitivity and reducing contamination levels from 20% to just 1%.

One calScreener machine has been installed at a BioSafety Category 3 facility at TiKa Diagnostics. The technology is being tested for use in detection and anti-microbial susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the cause of tuberculosis in humans, Mycobacterium bovis, the cause of tuberculosis in cattle that can sometimes be passed to humans, and Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP), the cause of Johne’s Disease in cows—reducing their milk production and reproductive capabilities.

Symcel’s technology has also been installed at a Biosafety Category 2 facility at St. George’s University of London that is dedicated to the development of new drug treatments that work specifically on multi-drug resistant bacteria. calScreener will be used to study antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and their interaction with superbugs. It will also test the surface modification of plastics to prevent biofilm formation and the capability of AMPs to cause the destruction of existing biofilms.