Luna Lu, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering, along with graduate student Aline Elquist and a team of several researchers from Indiana University, has won the 2018 Disease Diagnostics INventors Challenge with $30,000 in funding for a one-year project period.

Their invention uses a piezoelectric-based sensor to provide rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) results, within a matter of minutes, and free of culture and incubation. Drug resistant bacterial infections, caused by Superbugs, are a serious threat for international healthcare community. In the US alone, these bacteria cause more than 2 million patient illness and 23,000 deaths annually according to Center for Disease Control and Prevention. This invention allows for timely provision of life-saving treatment, along with de-escalation from broad spectrum therapy , which can lead to decreased length of hospital stay, reduced hospital costs, and improved patient outcomes.

The Disease Diagnostics INventors Challenge is hosted by Purdue's Discovery Park and seeks to catalyze the development of novel disease detection technologies through a competitive application process that incentivizes the formation of multidisciplinary teams of clinicians, life scientists, engineers, and analytical chemists.