What is Pulse - Start detecting plasmid transmission today

Time to read: 5 minutes

Time to implement: Start today

Your outbreak-detection workflow is overlooking a critical component of horizontal gene transmission, plasmids.

Recent studies show that, at least one-third of all antimicrobial resistance (AMR) transmission events went undetected due to overlooked plasmid detection [1].

The consequences call for action: wasted resources on avoidable patient-to-patient transmissions, increased readmission risk, and longer hospital stays [2].
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Solu addresses this gap in a single feature: Pulse delivers actionable plasmid detection, integrated directly into fast, comprehensive genomic surveillance.

Ready to take your outbreak detection to the next level? Try our product for free with 20 samples.

Looking for more proof? Here are three Pulse highlights that redefine what’s possible in genomic surveillance.
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Top quality plasmid reconstruction

Pulse is fully integrated into the Solu workflow. No new equipment or bioinformatics expertise required. Pulse uses plasmid identity genes as biological signatures for reliable detection, leveraging validated methods, such as MOB-suite, that provide up-to-date results [3]. Simply drag-and-drop upload your sequencing to the platform and Pulse reconstructs plasmids from your samples within minutes.

Surveillance workflow blind spots exposed

Plasmid-driven spread is a blind spot covering over 30% of AMR transfer [1]. Pulse exposes the dark matter of genomic surveillance: horizontal gene transfer, mobile resistance genes, and plasmid transmission chains. This provides infection control teams the full picture: the true danger of AMR is not in the strains themselves, but in the genes moving between them.

Aggregated genomes leveraged

The real power of Pulse emerges as datasets grow. Pulse flags shared plasmids across samples and delivers the insights your infection control team needs: which plasmids are spreading, what resistance genes they carry, and which samples are connected through horizontal gene transfer. 
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Plasmid detection in action

By making plasmid detection fast, actionable and hassle-free, Pulse completes the transmission puzzle: horizontal plasmid spread, mobile resistance genes, and outbreak drivers that traditional pipelines miss entirely.

Solu's standard visualizations, such as phylogenetic trees, combined with plasmid context from Pulse, provide the critical information to support hospital infection control team decisions. These can include adjusting cleaning protocols, refining antibiotic stewardship strategies and reducing selection pressures favoring plasmid-carriers.

Solu connects samples to a growing database around the globe for geographical context. Hospitals from Norway to New Zealand are already using Solu to detect outbreaks faster and respond with confidence. At Akershus University Hospital in Norway, Dr. Cecilie Sveen-Ekre moved from complex command-line workflows to real-time results with Solu:

"First time logging in, I dragged and dropped the files, and got results in minutes. It was like magic."

Start today for free to feel the difference yourself.

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Sources:

1. Sobkowiak et al. (2025). "The dark matter of bacterial genomic surveillance—antimicrobial resistance plasmid transmissions in the hospital setting." Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 63(6):e0012125. PMID: 40353659
   DOI: 10.1128/jcm.00121-25
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2. ‍Solu. The Immediate Financial Impact of AMR. https://www.solugenomics.com/post/the-economic-threat-of-antimicrobial-resistance-why-immediate-action-is-critical
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3. MOB-suite: software tools for clustering, reconstruction and typing of plasmids from draft assemblies.
   Robertson, J., Nash, J.H.E.
   ‍Microbial Genomics (2018). PMCID: PMC6159552
   DOI: 10.1099/mgen.0.000206

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