Antibiotic resistance is a significant public health threat, in part due to the misuse and overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics. Most antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) techniques are slow and culture-based, taking days to produce results, which delays treatment and can put patients at risk. Dipstick-type tests and manual microscopy are faster,...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) remains a major global health threat, causing nearly 1.5 million deaths annually, making it the 13th leading cause of death. While TB is preventable and treatable, multidrug-resistant TB worsens the global health crisis, making diagnosis and treatment more complex. An even greater challenge is heteroresistance, where...