Bacterial Cell Cultures in a Lab-on-a-Disc: A Simple and Versatile Tool for Quantification of Antibiotic Treatment Efficacy

Pathogenic bacterial biofilms can be life-threatening, greatly decrease patient's quality of life, and are a substantial burden on the healthcare system. Current methods for evaluation of antibacterial treatments in clinics and systems used in drug development and screening either do not facilitate biofilm formation or are cumbersome to operate, need large reagent volumes, and are costly, limiting their usability. To address these issues, this work presents the development of a robust cell culture platform compatible with confocal microscopy. The platform shaped as a compact disc facilitates long-term bacterial culture without external pumps and tubing and can be operated for several days without additional liquid handling. As an example, biofilm is grown from single cells, and it is shown that (1) the platform delivers reproducible and reliable results; (2) growth is dependent on flow rate and growth medium composition; and (3) efficacy of antibiotic treatment depends on the formed biofilm. This platform enables biofilm growth, quantification, and treatment as in a conventional flow setup while decreasing the application barrier of lab-on-chip systems. It provides an easy-to-use, affordable option for end users working with cell culturing in relation to, ., diagnostics and drug screening.