Engineering Research Visioning Alliance’s latest report identifies research priorities for biosensors, materials, and devices to prevent antimicrobial-resistant infections and help address this global challenge
DECEMBER – A new report released by the Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA), an initiative funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), offers a glimpse of the future engineering research that could be leveraged to address a tenacious global health challenge: the rise of infectious diseases caused by microbes exhibiting antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
According to a medical study reported by the World Health Organization (WHO), bacterial AMR caused 1.27 million deaths worldwide in 2019 and was a contributing factor in 3.7 million more, making it more lethal than malaria or AIDS; left unchecked, AMR is projected to cause 10 million deaths annually by 2050. Although health care and biopharma research is crucial for developing solutions, engineering research can bridge the gap between fundamental principles and rapid development of useful, scalable treatments and tools that both patients and clinicians can use.
“Engineers have the underlying skills to help with the development of treatments and tools that the medical and biopharma fields can use to reduce AMR and save tens of millions of lives in the coming decades,” said Anita Shukla, the Elaine I. Savage Professor of Engineering at Brown University, who proposed and chaired the ERVA visioning event that laid the groundwork for the report. “The report identifies key engineering research priorities focusing on critical areas where engineering can lead impact against AMR.”
The ERVA visioning event brought together 55 researchers from academia, industry, and government sectors with diverse expertise, from doctors and veterinarians specializing in AMR to bioengineers and medical device engineers. The cross-disciplinary group offered a unique opportunity for engineers and medical researchers to collaboratively develop research topics to advance the work in AMR.
Engineering directions in diagnostic biosensors and wearables, antimicrobial surfaces, smart biomaterials, cell engineering, and computational modeling were developed, illustrating a host of areas ripe for research pursuit. The resulting report, Engineering Opportunities to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance, identified three broad areas for engineering research:
- Preventative Measures: Several engineering approaches can be adopted to enable preventative measures in clinical practice and the daily lives of individuals. These include diagnostic biosensors designed to detect any bacterial pathogen while maintaining sensitivity, stability, and the ability to be integrated into wearable technologies. Additionally, novel antimicrobial surfaces can be developed to control the spread of antimicrobial-resistant microbes for multiple applications.
- Novel Therapeutic Approaches: In addition to the need for new antimicrobial discovery, engineering research is required to develop novel effective treatments for antimicrobial-resistant infections. These approaches include smart antimicrobial drug delivery systems that can provide on-demand release of effective antimicrobial agents and limit unnecessary exposure to these drugs, preserving efficacy. Drug-free, host-directed cellular engineering approaches will also be an important part of treatment.
- Modeling Advancements: Research that combines ex vivo and computational modeling can generate powerful tools that provide accurate information rapidly without the need for long, expensive experiments. Specifically, ex vivo methods can assist in developing complex models of bacterial infections containing commensal microbes and components of healthy tissues. Integrating artificial intelligence-based approaches could also significantly improve the development of computational models and the design of future therapeutics with greater accuracy and speed.
“Engineering research is essential to slowing the spread and emergence of AMR and minimizing its impact on populations worldwide. The ERVA report is an important step toward envisioning new approaches from the engineering perspective,” Shukla said.
Engineering Opportunities to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance is the ninth report released by ERVA, an initiative funded by the NSF to help identify future engineering research directions. The executive summary and full report can be downloaded from ERVA’s website here. Visit ERVA’s website to see other reports generated by visioning events: AI Engineering | A Strategic Research Framework to Benefit Society, Engineering Materials for a Sustainable Future, Engineering the Future of Distributed Manufacturing, Engineered Systems for Water Security, Sustainable Transportation Networks Engineering, R&D Solutions for Unhackable Infrastructure, Leveraging Biology to Power Engineering Impact, and The Role of Engineering to Address Climate Change.
ERVA is funded by the National Science Foundation.
About The Engineering Research Vision Alliance (ERVA):
The Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA) is a neutral convener that helps define future engineering research directions. Funded by the NSF Directorate for Engineering, ERVA is a diverse, inclusive and engaged partnership that enables an array of voices to impact national research priorities. The five-year initiative convenes, catalyzes and enables the engineering community to identify nascent opportunities and priorities for engineering-led innovative, high-impact, cross-domain research that addresses national, global and societal needs. Learn more at ERVAcommunity.org.
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