Urine Metagenomics
We culture the unculturable!
Until recently, the human urinary tract was believed to be a sterile region of the body when in good health. The urinary tract possesses a microbiome and, with this new technology now available, it is possible to explore its role in pathology and, conversely, the impact of disease on the microbiome itself. Metagenomics allows for large quantities of DNA strands to be analyzed simultaneously, providing a wealth of information about the presence of large numbers of species in a timely fashion.
screening for even the tiniest traces of microorganisms !
One of the most attractive features of this technology to clinicians is its ability to provide much more comprehensive data regarding the state of the microenvironment of a patient’s urinary tract than is yielded by a traditional culture and sensitivity (C&S). Conventionally, the main method of studying microbial communities involved attempting to culture the organisms that may exist within a sample. With the knowledge that the microbiome is an important piece of the urology puzzle, we have to be mindful of the limitations of cultures, and how they regularly have the effect of overlooking infections which may very well be crucial to treating hidden microbes. Not only does our solution provides a quick efficient way for detection of adverse microbial communities, but also for detection of antibiotic resistance genes that is present in the sample, which is crucial for the way physicians approach the infection, allowing physicians to deliver a precise treatment, which shortens the treatment period for the patient—a form of ‘precision medicine’
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