Kenley Kohls (CELL '26) and Braden Betteridge (CELL '28) are conducting research with a friendly spirit of competition, encouraging each other to exceed how fast they can complete their innovative testing procedure in the lab. Independently, they’re charting different paths as they pursue distinct careers in the health sciences. Together, they’re making groundbreaking progress on sepsis treatment by creating a fast diagnosis process that could help healthcare professionals save countless lives in the future.
Globally, sepsis causes millions of deaths every year. It’s a serious condition that occurs when bacteria enters the bloodstream and triggers a widespread autoimmune response. If not promptly and properly treated, it can be lethal. Because sepsis can be caused by any number of bacteria, most diagnoses can take twenty-four hours or longer to determine the right strain, leaving thousands anxiously waiting for results. Kohls and Betteridge are working to solve that problem. Through bacterial genomics, they’ve significantly cut the diagnosis time down, now taking only a few hours to confirm a sepsis case.
Though quick, the procedure they’re developing in Dr. Jonathan Hill’s lab is complicated, requiring a special centrifuge to separate blood from plasma while leaving the bacteria inside. “We take that miniscule amount of bacteria, do a whole genome amplification of its DNA, linearize it's DNA, and then sequence it to identify what the bacteria in the patient's blood stream actually is,” Kohls explains. They are also facing other obstacles to refining the process, including solution contamination and enzyme malfunctions.
Despite this, the process is already faster than most hospital procedures, with its reliability increasing by the day. “We do time trials to see how long it takes to get it accurate because time is of the essence,” Betteridge remarks. “We see what works best and what other variables could be affecting the results we’re getting.” As a result, their research is progressing with incredible promise, receiving first place in the cell biology and physiology category at the annual Life Sciences Research Conference.
Kohls is endlessly grateful for the support she and Betteridge have received, including help from Dr. Hill, Dr. Gill’s engineering team, and their graduate mentor, Kaitlyn Robinson. Kohls asserted that their assistance, as well as inspiration from God, was a major factor in their success. “I love, love, love that God is a biologist,” Kohls says. “He knows how to separate the bacteria from the plasma so that we're able to amplify it.” Betteridge’s faith helps him stay optimistic even when facing complex problems in the lab. “When things go wrong, I'm not going to give up,” Betteridge shares. “That’s when you realize that what you're doing will help other people. That is why God sent me here.”
Kohls and Betteridge expect to finish refining their process in April 2026 and plan to pass the procedure to a team of engineers, who will mechanize the diagnostic process for doctors so they can begin life-saving treatments earlier. Both researchers have been extremely grateful to work on something so impactful. “I really like this research, because it helps me to understand the value of research and the value of people who work behind closed doors developing all these medicines and protocols that save lives,” Betteridge concludes. He and Kohls both look forward to using the knowledge they’ve gained in the health sciences to help others heal.