Personalized drug therapy adjusting the dose, dosage intervals, and the duration of treatment to fit individual patients’ needs is increasingly important. Frequently, medications are dosed in such a way that each patient receives the same standardized amount of a drug. Thus, clinical conditions such as overall state of health, metabolism, or other physical factors are often not sufficiently considered. A research team at the University of Freiburg has developed a bioanalytical method to measure the class of β-lactam antibiotics in human blood onsite – in the operating room, intensive ward or doctor’s office, or even the patient’s home. “This way, we can easily determine just how quickly the human body metabolizes a drug,” said the microsystems engineer Dr. Can Dincer, who is the head of the research team.