• Question: How do you think advances in microbiology will be made?

    Asked by sabinelamar to Catherine on 17 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Catherine Fontinelle

      Catherine Fontinelle answered on 17 Jun 2013:

      Ooooooh, that’s a good one. Some of the newest gadgets that I have seen are based on DNA sequencing. At the moment, I look at ONE sample for ONE organism, but I then still have to grow it to find out which antibiotics would be best to use, to cure that infection.
      In the future ONE sample will be screened for ALL organisms as well as their resistance genes so treatment will be based on DNA. Watch this space.
      Check out the lab on CSI, all that kit is used in labs all the time. I have been known to pause and rewind just to show my family a machine that I use, that I have seen in the background.

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