PROTIA Registers Patent for Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Device

Korean Patent Registered for “Electronic Device and Method for Performing Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing of Microorganisms”

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<2026-02-06>

PROTIA announced that, following the patents applied to the PROTIA AST DL001 kit (Registration Nos. 10-1505310 and 10-1776698), which improves testing accuracy and speed by detecting minute electrical signals generated by microbial growth, a patent applied to the Q-AST 192 Pro antibiotic susceptibility testing device (Registration No. 10-2919117) was registered on January 23, 2026.

The patent is titled “Electronic Device for Performing Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing of Microorganisms and Method Thereof.” It covers an electronic device that performs antibiotic susceptibility testing of microorganisms. The device obtains data measuring changes in the electrical properties of target microorganisms following antibiotic treatment, inputs the relevant data into a deep-learning model trained to determine positive or negative results, determines whether the antibiotic data of the microorganisms are positive or negative, and uses the results to identify the antibiotic susceptibility of the target microorganisms according to antibiotic type and concentration.

PROTIA AST DL001 and Q-AST 192 Pro, products developed by PROTIA, measure minute electrical signals that change as microorganisms grow in real time. An automated analysis program incorporating a pattern-recognition algorithm then analyzes the measured electrical signals to determine antibiotic susceptibility.

The products also offer the advantage of producing more precise results by combining highly accurate real-time measurement technology with capacitance measurements, which are electrical measurement values. Unlike conventional turbidity-based testing, the products apply capacitive sensor technology, enabling antibiotic susceptibility testing without a separate bacterial isolation and culture process.

In practice, this technology significantly reduces the conventional antibiotic susceptibility testing time of three days, allowing the most appropriate antibiotic to be prescribed to patients within 24 hours. The PROTIA AST DL001 product also offers differentiated competitiveness by supporting the simultaneous testing of 192 channels and incorporating 37 antibiotics.

Antibiotic susceptibility testing is essential in addressing the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria caused by the misuse and overuse of antibiotics, as well as in treating patients with sepsis, whose survival rate decreases by 9% every hour. PROTIA plans to obtain global patents to secure recognition of its technology and rights related to antibiotic susceptibility testing using capacitive sensors, while strengthening its business capabilities for antibiotic susceptibility testing products in the global market.

<PROTIA AST DL001 Kit (Left) and Q-AST 192 Pro Instrument (Right)>