A first for clinical trials in the US as researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine get US FDA approval to use intravenously-administered bacteriophage therapy in hopes of combatting resistant bacteria.
A bacteriophage, VP882, has been identified to use bacterial quorum-sensing as a method to control the lysis-lysogeny decision. This is the first time a virus has been shown to detect a bacterial molecule.
In recent years, researchers have discovered the potential of CRISPR as an antimicrobial. In this blog post we explain the recent advances made in this field and the different approaches by which CRISPR can be used as a new weapon in the battle against antimicrobial resistance.
Scientists, led by the National University of Singapore and the University of Glasgow, have used the term ‘lateral transduction’ to describe a novel, dangerously-potent mechanism of bacteriophage-induced genetic transduction.
Researchers demonstrate for the first time the importance of bacteriophages in the development of multifactorial diseases such as Parkinson’s, a potentially critical factor that has been previously over-looked.
In this review, the authors consider phage therapy that can be used for treating bacterial infections in humans, domestic animals and even biocontrol in foods. They also explore common practice – both experimental and, in certain regions of the world, clinical – of mixing therapeutic phages into cocktails consisting of multiple virus types.
Researchers have successfully treated a 68-year old diabetic patient with a personalized bacteriophage-based treatment. The patient suffered from necrotizing pancreatitis that had previously been unresponsive to routine antibiotic treatment.
Researchers have demonstrated that the efficacy of phage therapy is dependent on synergy with the host’s immune system.
Widespread use of antibiotics in pregnancy to eradicate Group B Streptococcus has reduced disease in babies, however, could bacteriophage therapy yield the same results but in a more selective manner?
A team from Tel Aviv University have developed hybrid bacteriophage particles that may allow DNA transduction to new bacteria, expanding the range of currently used phages.
