In this week’s Medical Discovery News by UTMB’s David Niesel and Norbert Herzog: The time it takes to test for the cause of an infection ranges from minutes to weeks. A new generation of biosensors may change that, as they are being developed to identify the viral, bacterial or fungal origin of an illness within a few hours, allowing physicians to begin the correct treatment sooner. This new technology represents a universal pathogen detector, capable of identifying the organism responsible for a person’s illness in just a few hours. Networking the detectors between hospitals and health departments would quickly identify outbreaks and possibly save lives.