Really good job on the presentation! One question I have is what specifically is phage therapy? How does phage therapy present a promising treatment to antibiotic resistant infections? Does the effectiveness of treatment depend on what kinds of phages are used?
Hi Anya! Phage are a type of virus that are able to kill different types of bacteria based off of their characteristics which can be identified through further experiments. Phage therapy uses phage to treat these bacterias, specifically antibiotic resistant ones. Phage therapy can take many different forms such as injection, pill, or topical treatment. Effectiveness does depend on what kind of phage are used. Lytic phages are used in phage therapy rather than lysogenic phages because lytic phage kill the host cell immediately. You can also identify specific clusters and subclusters of phages can help determine what specific bacteria a phage can infect. It is important that the database of isolated phages is large to increase options and potential of treating infections!
Thank you Sarah! We use a electron microscope because we are able to see more details, such tail length and head diameter, allowing us to categorize the family of our phage.
Hi Rowan! I don’t believe there is an average size, but the most common “shape” is siphoviridae, which is the type of phage I isolated. The size does not determine the function of a phage, but burst size of plaques on plates can help determine how good the phage would be for phage therapy.
Thank you Dhruv! The lytic lifecycle is when a phage enters a bacteria cell and immediately kills (lyses) it vs in the lysogenic lifecycle lysing is delayed. This is what makes lytic phage better/more efficient for phage therapy.
Awesome job! You begin your presentation by stating that phage therapy is important to fix the issue of antibiotic resistance in the world, could you elaborate more to how these two are interconnected?
Thank you Maisie! Antibiotic resistant bacteria means that the bacteria has adapted to be resistant to and no longer able to be treated by antibiotics. Phage (a virus) are also capable of killing bacteria, but bacteria cannot be resistant to phages, which makes them a promising alternative to antibiotics. Hope that makes more sense!
Thank you Maisie! Antibiotic resistant bacterias are unable to treated by antibiotics. Phage (a virus) are capable of killing bacteria, and bacterial cells are not resistant to phages. This is why phage therapy is a promising treatment for bacterial infections. Hope this helps!
curesymposium.org 
Really good job on the presentation! One question I have is what specifically is phage therapy? How does phage therapy present a promising treatment to antibiotic resistant infections? Does the effectiveness of treatment depend on what kinds of phages are used?
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Hi Anya! Phage are a type of virus that are able to kill different types of bacteria based off of their characteristics which can be identified through further experiments. Phage therapy uses phage to treat these bacterias, specifically antibiotic resistant ones. Phage therapy can take many different forms such as injection, pill, or topical treatment. Effectiveness does depend on what kind of phage are used. Lytic phages are used in phage therapy rather than lysogenic phages because lytic phage kill the host cell immediately. You can also identify specific clusters and subclusters of phages can help determine what specific bacteria a phage can infect. It is important that the database of isolated phages is large to increase options and potential of treating infections!
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This presentation is great! What was the motivation behind using an electron microscope instead of a light microscope to see your phage?
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Thank you Sarah! We use a electron microscope because we are able to see more details, such tail length and head diameter, allowing us to categorize the family of our phage.
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Great job! Is there another type of experiment you would consider doing going forward with this research?
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Hi Nana! Next we would isolate DNA and run a gel to find out the cluster it belongs too.
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What’s the average size of a bacteriophage? Does the function of the phage vary depending on the size of it?
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Hi Rowan! I don’t believe there is an average size, but the most common “shape” is siphoviridae, which is the type of phage I isolated. The size does not determine the function of a phage, but burst size of plaques on plates can help determine how good the phage would be for phage therapy.
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What is the average size of a bacteriophage? Does the function vary depending on the size?
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What a great presentation! I was wondering, what is the liytic lifecycle?
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Thank you Dhruv! The lytic lifecycle is when a phage enters a bacteria cell and immediately kills (lyses) it vs in the lysogenic lifecycle lysing is delayed. This is what makes lytic phage better/more efficient for phage therapy.
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Awesome job! You begin your presentation by stating that phage therapy is important to fix the issue of antibiotic resistance in the world, could you elaborate more to how these two are interconnected?
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Thank you Maisie! Antibiotic resistant bacteria means that the bacteria has adapted to be resistant to and no longer able to be treated by antibiotics. Phage (a virus) are also capable of killing bacteria, but bacteria cannot be resistant to phages, which makes them a promising alternative to antibiotics. Hope that makes more sense!
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Thank you Maisie! Antibiotic resistant bacterias are unable to treated by antibiotics. Phage (a virus) are capable of killing bacteria, and bacterial cells are not resistant to phages. This is why phage therapy is a promising treatment for bacterial infections. Hope this helps!
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Great presentation, is there anything you would have done differently or would like to look more into if you were to do the project again.
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Hi Kevin! I would love to try to isolate a phage from something other than soil, possibly sewage water.
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