Invention Description Antibiotic-resistant nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) infections are increasing at ~8% annually, placing a significant burden on healthcare systems. Mycobacterium abscessus (Mabs) represents one of the most treatment-refractory pathogens, particularly in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. Mabs disease severity is strongly associated...

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...

­Owing to an increasing number of drug resistant bacteria, as well as similarity in the activity spectrum of current antibiotics, there is high demand for developing effective and specific antimicrobial therapies. Nontuberculous mycobacteria, specifically Mycobacterium abscessus (M. abscessus), have become an increasing public health concern in...

Microarrays and high-throughput transcriptomic analyses require high quality RNA samples for accurate results. Extracting high quality RNA is notoriously difficult and can be further complicated by high clay or metal ion concentrations. Nucleic acids are difficult to separate from clay particles and metal ions may bind irreversibly to RNA and cause...

Antibiotic resistance has become a significant public health threat. It causes billions of healthcare-related costs as well as 2 million hospitalizations and 23,000 deaths annually in the US alone. Clinical treatment of bacterial infections, especially in acute cases of sepsis, requires multiple steps, including antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST)....