New strategy uses bacteriophages to combat drug-resistant infections

Phages, for more than a century, have been known as a natural enemy of bacteria and studied for their potential to treat infections. However, phages are usually very specific for one type of bacteria and predicting these matches has been difficult.

Mark Mimee, assistant professor of molecular engineering and senior authorIt's one of those things where biology often doesn't work the way you want it to. But it gives us an opportunity to study the detailed dynamics between the phages and the bacteria."

Mimee's lab group is continuing experiments to better understand how different phage and bacteria pairs interact with each other and how the presence of other phages and bacteria – naturally found in the human body-;influences that. At the same time, in collaboration with Valaitis, they are seeking approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a small clinical trial testing the phage mixture in patients with urinary tract infections.

"This research is a positive step forward in trying to sort out the complexities of phages and move them closer to the clinic," says Mimee.

Source:

University of Chicago

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