For patients with infectious diseases like tuberculosis, timing is critical. Tuberculosis is one of the most common causes of death from a curable disease, and cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis are on the rise. But determining if a patient carries an antibiotic-resistant strain can take weeks or months using current clinical diagnostics. During this period, patients are often treated with ineffective drugs and can continue to spread their illness as time slips away. This problem is not unique to tuberculosis – quicker diagnostics are urgently needed for all infectious diseases. Read more.