Singapore designs tool to investigate hospital borne bacterial infections

Researchers from the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Interdisciplinary Research Group (IRG) at Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have developed a tool using CRISPRi technology that can help understand and prevent biofilm development, drug resistance, and other physiological behaviours of bacteria such as Enterococcus faecalis.

E. faecalis, a bacteria found in the human gut, is one of the most prevalent causes of hospital-associated infections and can lead to a variety of multidrug-resistant, life-threatening infections including bacteraemia (bloodstream infection), endocarditis (infection of the heart), catheter-associated urinary tract infection and wound infections.