NEW YORK – OpGen said on Wednesday that its subsidiary Curetis has received more than €350,000 ($410,000) from the Federal German Ministry of Education and Research to use artificial intelligence for developing a test for carbapenem resistance in Gram-negative bacteria.
The project includes Curetis, based in Holzgerlingen, Germany, and collaborators at the Research Campus InfectoGnostics and is coordinated by Jena University Hospital. Curetis alone received €350,000 for the project, which is expected to start this month and run until August 2025.
The project also intends to address resistance mechanisms in "difficult-to-treat gram-negative pathogens such as Enterobacteria, Pseudomonas, and Acinetobacter," OpGen said in a statement. Curetis will provide research on "innovative detection methods" for carbapenem resistance based on porin loss and efflux pump overexpression.
"Carbapenems are last-resort antibiotics for treatment of patients infected with Gram-negative bacteria that show resistance against cephalosporins," said Gerd Luedke, director of innovation, technology and IP at Curetis, in a statement. "Resistance is often conferred by mechanisms such as porin loss or efflux pump overexpression, not adequately covered by current diagnostics."