Antimicrobial Pharmacodynamic Pharmacokinetic Research Accelerator and Innovator for Sustainable Endeavours (APPRAISE)

The APPRAISE facility was created in 2022 at the RVC Hawkshead Campus to provide an innovative cross-disciplinary platform for the optimisation of antimicrobial dosing, assessment of antimicrobial resistance, and advanced pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic analysis and modelling.

Through a combined in vitro and in silico approach this accelerator facility provides innovative and drug specific workflows to help industry assess antimicrobial pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, and optimise dosing to minimise resistance emergence.

Research facilities

Bacterial identification
- Phenotypic and genotypic characterisation of bacterial isolates using a range of techniques including: culture and isolation, MALDI-TOF, and PCR.

Antimicrobial susceptibility testing
- Disc susceptibility and AMR molecular screening
- Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC)
- Minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC)
- Mutant prevention concentration (MPC)

HPLC-UV/fluor for drug quantification
- Antimicrobial drug quantification via HPLC-UV/Fluorescence

Static and dynamic time-kill analysis
- Extended time-kill curve analysis
- Minimal selective concentration (MSC)
- Competitive growth comparison of susceptible and resistant isolates

Chromatography (HPLC) with UV and Fluorescent detection systems for quantification of antimicrobials and other pharmacological compounds.

Hollow-fibre infection models
- Bespoke methods for running fastidious and non-fastidious organisms in the HFIM
- Emulation of in vivo PK for dynamic kill assays and dose optimisation
- Capacity to run multiple HFIM simultaneously

2 simultaneous set-ups running with CAMHB and polysulfone cartridges

2 simultaneous set-ups running with MH-F (fastidious media) and polysulfone cartridges

Advanced PK-PD modelling
- A combined modelling approach using the full spectrum of in vivo and in vitro data to optimise dosing, predict efficacy, and minimise resistance selection.