The critical role of the microbiology lab in antibiotic stewardship
1 May 2025
Vikas Gupta, Senior Director of Clinical Affairs at Q-linea and a clinical pharmacist, underscores the vital relationship between microbiology and antibiotic stewardship. Gupta highlights the rising challenge of antimicrobial resistance and the need for rapid susceptibility testing to improve patient outcomes, particularly in sepsis management. He also discusses the benefits of early antibiotic susceptibility and MIC results, emphasizing their role in precision treatment. Additionally, he explores the impact of controlled inoculum consistency and the transformative potential of the ASTar instrument in delivering timely results to stewardship teams, ultimately enhancing patient care.
This video interview was filmed at ESCMID Global 2025, Vienna, Austria.
About the company
Q-linea
Q-linea is an innovative infection diagnostics company that primarily develops instruments and disposables for rapid and reliable infection diagnostics. Our vision is to help save lives by ensuring antibiotics continue to be an effective treatment for future generations. Q-linea develops and delivers preferred solutions for healthcare providers, enabling them to accurately diagnose and treat infectious disease in the shortest possible time. The company’s lead product ASTar® is a fully automated instrument for antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST), giving a susceptibility profile within six hours directly from a positive blood culture.
