Hi! How does this research on this specific bacteriophage help with developing alternatives to antibiotics? How does the conclusions drawn from your analysis allow for further developments in phage therapy?
Thank you for this question Sarah! I would say that phage therapy is very far away from being a full alternative to antibiotics. I would argue that our research and conclusions add to the gigantic database of phages so that when phage therapy can be applied, there are a wide variety of phages for them to chose from to fight antibiotic resistant bacterial infections.
Thank you, Sarah. I would say that phage therapy is very far from an alternative to antibiotics. Our conclusions help us categorize this phage into a genetic cluster so that when a person wants to use phage therapy, it is easily accessible to know what kind of phage will match a bacteria.
Ours would have to be forced into the lytic cycle, which can be done by removing certain genetic sequences from the temperate phage, in order to cause cellular death of the bacterial infection.
I really liked your presentation! Phages sound like a great way to fight back against antibiotic resistance, what are some limitations that are stopping us from normalizing them as medicine?
There are many many limitations to using it right now. In my opinion, the most problematic one is that there is a possibility of horizontal gene transfer between bacteria and phages. This would make a phage that would be untreatable and very dangerous. Honestly, this scenario sounds like somethings of a really scary black mirror episode which is why the treatment is reserved for only “last hope” cases. Hopefully, they find a solution to this.
curesymposium.org 
Hi! How does this research on this specific bacteriophage help with developing alternatives to antibiotics? How does the conclusions drawn from your analysis allow for further developments in phage therapy?
LikeLike
Thank you for this question Sarah! I would say that phage therapy is very far away from being a full alternative to antibiotics. I would argue that our research and conclusions add to the gigantic database of phages so that when phage therapy can be applied, there are a wide variety of phages for them to chose from to fight antibiotic resistant bacterial infections.
LikeLike
Thank you, Sarah. I would say that phage therapy is very far from an alternative to antibiotics. Our conclusions help us categorize this phage into a genetic cluster so that when a person wants to use phage therapy, it is easily accessible to know what kind of phage will match a bacteria.
LikeLike
Do you think genetic testing would be the next step and why? Do you think it is worth testing if you had more time?
LikeLike
Yes! Genetic testing would have been a great next step because it would help us better categorize our phage for the phage database.
LikeLike
Yes, genetic testing would have been a great next step because it would allow us to categorize the phage for the database
LikeLike
How would your bacteriophage be used as a therapy?
LikeLike
Ours would have to be forced into the lytic cycle, which can be done by removing certain genetic sequences from the temperate phage, in order to cause cellular death of the bacterial infection.
LikeLike
I really liked your presentation! Phages sound like a great way to fight back against antibiotic resistance, what are some limitations that are stopping us from normalizing them as medicine?
LikeLike
There are many many limitations to using it right now. In my opinion, the most problematic one is that there is a possibility of horizontal gene transfer between bacteria and phages. This would make a phage that would be untreatable and very dangerous. Honestly, this scenario sounds like somethings of a really scary black mirror episode which is why the treatment is reserved for only “last hope” cases. Hopefully, they find a solution to this.
LikeLike
Amazing research excited to learn more
LikeLike