Research idea IV
Application of bacteriophages against bacterial infections in personal based medicine
Annotation
Non-antibiotic therapies to treat bacterial infections are now under serious consideration and one possible option is the therapeutic use of specific phage particles that target bacterial pathogens. Bacteriophages are viruses that only infect and lyse bacterial cells. In recent years, well-controlled animal models have demonstrated that phages can rescue animals from a variety of fatal infections, while non-controlled clinical reports published in Eastern Europe have shown that phages can be effective in treating drug-resistant infec tions in humans. In recent years it has become widely recognized that bacteriophages have several potential applications also in the food industry. They have been proposed as alternatives to antibiotics in animal health, as biopreservatives in food and as tools for detecting pathogenic bacteria throughout the food chain. Consequently, they display two unique features rele vant in and suitable for food safety. Namely, their safe use as they are harmless to mammalian cells and their high host specificity that allows proper starter performance in fermented products and keeps the natural microbiota undisturbed. Our aim is to create new specific phage collection, which can be used for personal treatment as well as in food industry.