Great presentation! I’m curious about the discovery and isolation of this bacteriophage; how did you know where to find it and what methods confirm that it is in fact a bacteriophage?
Thanks! To my understanding, every soil sample contains bacteriophage, so it was a matter of finding one that infected our host bacteria, M. Smegmatis. Plaque assays by which the bacteria are killed in contact with a phage lysate as well as electron microscopy images offer a high degree of confidence that it is a bacteriophage.
Thank you! We did this experiment as part of an effort to add to the body of knowledge of bacteriophage that can be used to treat bacterial infections, especially those resistant to antibiotics. Since bacteriophage kill bacteria, it is a useful tool for this medical use. The host bacteria we used, M. Smegmatis, is closely related to M. tuberculosis, which is not only very virulent, but is increasingly resistant to antibiotics.
Thank you! Thanks for the suggestion as well. We isolated and characterized bacteriophage in order to have more possible phage available for phage therapy to treat bacterial infections.
The poster and presentation were really amazing! You briefly discussed sequencing the phage genome in the future directions. What would be some of the conclusions that you could make once the phage genome is sequenced and how would this help with further applications with this phage?
Thank you! By sequencing the genome of our phage, we could better conclude the cluster and subcluster of our phage which allows us to understand its characteristics in relation to bacteriophages of the same cluster. This would be helpful for phage therapy by informing which phage is best for the job.
The goal of sequencing would be to ascertain the specific cluster and subcluster of our phage by getting a better picture of the phage genome. This allows for better understanding of more characteristics of the phage,which could be used in phage therapy.
Great presentation! I’m curious about the discovery and isolation of this bacteriophage; how did you know where to find it and what methods confirm that it is in fact a bacteriophage?
Thanks! To my understanding, every soil sample contains bacteriophage, so it was a matter of finding one that infected our host bacteria, M. Smegmatis. Plaque assays by which the bacteria are killed in contact with a phage lysate as well as electron microscopy images offer a high degree of confidence that it is a bacteriophage.
You sounded very confident! I’m just wondering about some information ad background on phage. Why are you doing this experiment?
Thank you! We did this experiment as part of an effort to add to the body of knowledge of bacteriophage that can be used to treat bacterial infections, especially those resistant to antibiotics. Since bacteriophage kill bacteria, it is a useful tool for this medical use. The host bacteria we used, M. Smegmatis, is closely related to M. tuberculosis, which is not only very virulent, but is increasingly resistant to antibiotics.
You sounded confident! Maybe explain more about what is known about phage already and why you are doing this.
Thank you! Thanks for the suggestion as well. We isolated and characterized bacteriophage in order to have more possible phage available for phage therapy to treat bacterial infections.
The poster and presentation were really amazing! You briefly discussed sequencing the phage genome in the future directions. What would be some of the conclusions that you could make once the phage genome is sequenced and how would this help with further applications with this phage?
Thank you! By sequencing the genome of our phage, we could better conclude the cluster and subcluster of our phage which allows us to understand its characteristics in relation to bacteriophages of the same cluster. This would be helpful for phage therapy by informing which phage is best for the job.
What would be goal of sequencing the genome using GOGEMS? Would there be specific applications of that sequencing?
The goal of sequencing would be to ascertain the specific cluster and subcluster of our phage by getting a better picture of the phage genome. This allows for better understanding of more characteristics of the phage,which could be used in phage therapy.