SPHERE: Spectroscopic Hyperpolarization for Enhanced REcognition of Bacterial Infection

SPHERE addresses the global need for rapid diagnostic solutions to the antimicrobial resistance crisis, classified as one of the leading causes of premature deaths. It introduces a robust tool, which combines metabolic profiling of bacteria, synthetic fluorine-containing bacterial substrates, 19F nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and fluorine photochemistry. The method targets bacterial metabolites instead of the bacteria itself. 19F NMR is easy to interpret sensitive and background-free spectra that will be additionally sensitivity enhanced by photoCIDNP hyperpolarization, and which specifically detects only the fluorine-containing metabolites formed from the used synthetic substrates. Merging modern solutions in microbiology and analytical NMR spectroscopy will reduce diagnosis time for bacterial bloodstream infections from days to hours, substantially improving the treatment outcome for the affected patients.