PLEASE NOTE:
- This seminar is IN PERSON ONLY in room RSM 2.28, Level 2, Royal School of Mines at Imperial College London’s South Kensington campus.
- Refreshments and networking will follow this seminar in RSM 3.24.
GUEST SPEAKER:
Maïwenn Kersaudy-Kerhoas, Professor of Microfluidic Engineering, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University
TALK TITLE:
Goodbye blood cultures? Detection of pathogens in human circulation with a microbial cell-free DNA sequencing approach
ABSTRACT:
Current infectious diseases diagnostic methods rely on conventional blood cultures, which offer answers only after administration of broad-spectrum antibiotics, and suffer from low specificity, sensitivity, and lengthy turnaround times often exceeding 72 hours. Rapid identification of infecting pathogens through genomic sequencing holds significant promise for improving treatment efficacy, reducing reliance on broad-spectrum antibiotics, and mitigating antimicrobial resistance in hospital settings. While PCR-based diagnostics partially address this need, they are inherently limited to predefined multiplex panels, typically comprising 30–60 targets, and may therefore fail to detect emerging, unexpected, or rare pathogens. Clinical metagenomics approaches provide a pathogen-agnostic solution but require complex equipment and are currently restricted to clinical sites with high-end clinical laboratories.
My multi-disciplinary lab is exploring the potential of decentralised, rapid metagenomics for the diagnosis of infections. This talk will detail a proprietary sample preparation approach we have developed, CNASafe, as well as our forays into nanopore sequencing with our iSEPSEQ workflow, our learnings from that experience, and the next steps in our mission to develop metagenomics at the point-of-care.
BIOGRAPHY:
Maïwenn Kersaudy-Kerhoas is a Professor of Microfluidic Engineering at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. She leads a multi-disciplinary research group of biologists and engineers focusing on the development of robust, reproducible and affordable prototyping methods for point-of-care diagnostics. Her lab has developed several pre-analytical tools for liquid biopsies applications, including a blood plasma separation chip, cell-free DNA extraction cartridges and a finger-actuated blood processing device. She has received a Royal Academy of Engineering Fellowship (2013) and a Healthcare Technology Challenge Award from the UK Engineering and Physical Science Council (2018). Her work is currently funded by EPSRC, MRC and the Royal Society.
