The SmartWound® RESOLVE Infection Sensor[1]

A pilot clinical study of the SmartWound-Resolve swab test (referred to as the SPaCE diagnostic) at 4 NHS hospitals, tested the accuracy of the novel point of care sensor on a potential burn wound infection.

This pilot study concluded that SmartWound-Resolve provided valuable and timely data to support clinical decision-making on wound infection at point of care (PoC) – published in The Journal of hospital infection 106(4):726-733 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jhin.2020.09.033).

The Technology – rapid wound assessment

The SmartWound-Resolve sensor currently responds to the four key microbial pathogens found in infected wounds:

  • Staphylococcus aureus
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa
  • Candida species
  • Enterococcus faecalis

 

The SmartWound Resolve (point of care) infection sensor kit is:

  • Cost effective,
  • Rapid (under 15 mins?)
  • Simple to use: wounds are swabbed, the swab placed in our patented vesicle gel, colour change indicates infection present.

 

The colour change is easily seen by eye (right):

  • Fluorescent yellow response = SPaCE pathogen positive;
  • Dull orange: SPaCE pathogen negative.

Virulence factor detection

Virulence factors are secreted as the microorganism invades and colonises host tissue. This occurs at the Critical Colonisation Threshold, CCT [2] .

The virulence factors lyse (break open) the SmartWound-Resolve vesicle, releasing the (clinically safe, non-toxic) fluorescent dye – clearly detectable by eye. 

References

[1] Patent number US9499852 B2 Priority date12/01/12

[2] N.T. Thet, D. R. Alves, J. E. Bean, S. Booth, J. Nzakizwanayo, A.E.R. Young, B. V. Jones, A.T.A. Jenkins, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 2016, 8, 14909- 14919

How SmartWound® RESOLVE sensor works