Label-free rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing with machine-learning based dynamic holographic laser speckle imaging.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) presents a significant global challenge, creating an urgent need for rapid and sensitive antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) methods to guide timely treatment decisions. Traditional AST techniques, such as broth microdilution, disk diffusion, and gradient diffusion assays, require extended incubation times, delaying critical therapeutic interventions. In this study, we present a dynamic holographic laser speckle imaging (DhLSI) system, coupled with machine learning algorithms, for rapid assessment of bacterial susceptibility upon antibiotic treatment.