TECHNOLOGY LICENSING OPPORTUNITY: Multidimensional Mass Fingerprinting for Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (MultiScan-AR)

MultiScan-AR from Los Alamos National Laboratory turns a routine mass spectrometry run into a high-resolution portrait of a microbe and its defenses, giving care teams the identity of a pathogen and its antibiotic-resistance profile in minutes to hours rather than the better part of a day. The method works with instruments that clinics and field laboratories already operate, from benchtop analyzers to portable units, so its advanced scanning technique and analysis pipeline add new diagnostic power without demanding an entirely new hardware footprint. For any organization racing to slow the spread of drug-resistant infections, the payoff is faster, more confident treatment decisions and a meaningful edge in patient care and public health.

Overview

The Multidimensional Mass Fingerprinting for Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria approach begins by capturing bacteria or fungi from a sample onto a collection material, then breaking those cells open to release their internal parts. The released components are analyzed by mass spectrometry using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization, a technique that gently and reproducibly converts molecules into measurable ions. Rather than take a single snapshot, MultiScan-AR applies a multidimensional scan that collects fragmentation data across the entire mass range and in both positive and negative charge modes, yielding far richer detail than a standard fingerprint. A dedicated data pipeline then organizes and annotates that complex output into a multidimensional mass fingerprint, allowing the system to identify the organism and flag the subtle molecular changes that signal antibiotic resistance.

Technology Description

MultiScan-AR is built around a multidimensional tandem mass spectrometry technique that interrogates lysed microbial samples with a level of granularity beyond conventional strain-typing instruments. Antibiotic resistance frequently arises from specific modifications to a cell's machinery, whether inside the cell through inactivating enzymes or at its surface through structures such as efflux pumps, and these differences are usually invisible to tools designed only to separate one species from another. By defining unique tandem fragmentation windows and stepping them across the full mass range, the method gathers MS and MS/MS information that captures those resistance-linked features rather than a coarse profile.

The resulting data set is intentionally dense, combining precursor-mass and product ion-level measurements in both ionization modes, and a purpose-built processing pipeline renders it as a single multidimensional mass fingerprint for interpretation. Because the technique layers onto established platforms such as benchtop biotyping analyzers and portable field spectrometers, labs can reach species-level identification and resistance profiling on the order of minutes to hours instead of waiting on culture-dependent workflows. The practical result reinforces a more discriminating readout that distinguishes closely related strains, supports better-informed antibiotic choices and strengthens efforts to contain resistant organisms.

Advantages

•          Delivers pathogen identification and antibiotic-resistance information in minutes to hours

•          Distinguishes even closely related bacterial strains that routine methods tend to miss

•          Works with mass spectrometry instruments already present in clinics and field settings, including portable units

•          Reduces reliance on prior knowledge of the suspected organism, unlike many antibody-based tests

•          Helps prevent incorrect antibiotic prescriptions and the resistance they encourage

•          Suits hospital, point-of-care and field-forward environments

Market Applications

•          Clinical Diagnostics (hospital or core laboratories, infectious-disease testing)

•          Point-of-care Testing (urgent care, bedside diagnostics)

•          Public Health and Biosurveillance (outbreak monitoring, resistance tracking)

•          Field-deployable Medicine (military medicine, remote or austere care settings)

•          Analytical Instrument Platforms (mass spectrometry providers, diagnostic software)

•          Antimicrobial Research (drug development, resistance studies)

TRL 3

U.S. Patent pending

LA-UR-26-27335

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