Bacteriophage News and Research

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Bacteriophages are small, virus-like organisms that infect bacteria. They are comprised of a protein capsule around an RNA or DNA genome.

Megaphages detected in the intestinal tract of humans who eat high-fiber, low-fat diet

Viruses plague bacteria just as viruses like influenza plague humans. Some of the largest of these so-called bacteriophages have now been found in the human gut, where they periodically devastate bacteria just as seasonal outbreaks of flu lay humans low, according to a new study led by University of California, Berkeley, scientists.

29 Jan 2019

UC San Diego to conduct first U.S. clinical trial of intravenously administered bacteriophage therapy

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted an Investigational New Drug application by physician-scientists at University of California San Diego School of Medicine to conduct the first U.S. clinical trial of an intravenously administered bacteriophage-based therapy.

9 Jan 2019

IONTAS founder and pioneer in phage display technology attends Nobel Prize Award Ceremony

Dr. John McCafferty celebrates the success of phage display technology with Nobel Prize in Chemistry Laureates.

From FairJourney Biologics 12 Dec 2018

Scientists develop dual anthrax-plague vaccine

A team of researchers has now engineered a virus nanoparticle vaccine against Bacillus anthracis and Yersinia pestis, tier 1 agents that pose serious threats to national security of the United States. B. anthracis and Y. pestis are the pathogens that cause anthrax and plague, respectively.

16 Oct 2018

Food scientists can employ bacteriophage to destroy E. coli in drinking water

To rapidly detect the presence of E. coli in drinking water, Cornell University food scientists now can employ a bacteriophage - a genetically engineered virus - in a test used in hard-to-reach areas around the world.

28 Sep 2018

Scientist intends to fight pathogenic bacteria with viruses

Dr. Li Deng of Helmholtz Zentrum München has been awarded a Starting Grant of the European Research Council. The scientist intends to tackle antimicrobial resistance by fighting bacteria with their natural enemies - the viruses. The grant is endowed with nearly 1.5 million euros for five years.

21 Sep 2018

AmpliPhi receives positive feedback from FDA for its AB-PA01 product targeting P.aeruginosa infections

AmpliPhi Biosciences Corporation, a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on precisely targeted bacteriophage therapeutics for antibiotic-resistant infections, today announced that the company has received positive feedback, via written response, from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding its development plans for AB-PA01, without the need for a Type B Pre-IND meeting.

19 Sep 2018

Study could shed light on potential causes and markers of inflammatory bowel disease

Unexpected patterns emerged in the microbial and viral communities of mice with intestinal inflammation during a study that examined the intestinal tracts of diseased and healthy mice.

25 Jul 2018

Novel delivery system for bacteriophages could offer new way to battle lung infections

A new delivery system for bacteriophages-;viruses that selectively attack harmful bacteria-;could help give doctors a new way to battle lung infections that threaten older patients and people with cystic fibrosis.

17 Jul 2018

UH scientists uncover clues to why bacteria survive in space

In professor George Fox's lab at the University of Houston, scientists are studying Earth germs that could be contaminating other planets.

28 Jun 2018

UC San Diego launches new bacteriophage therapy center

With microbial resistance to antibiotics growing into a major global health crisis, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, in collaboration with national research institutions and private industry, are leveraging hard-won expertise to exploit a natural viral enemy of pathogenic bacteria, creating North America's first Center for Innovative Phage Applications and Therapeutics

22 Jun 2018

Customising T-cells for cancer immunotherapy

T-cell immunotherapy is revolutionizing cancer treatments. CD8+ T cells are modified to recognize tumor-specific antigens and induce an immune response.

12 Jun 2018

Researchers target and kill disease-causing bacteria using cocktail of viruses

Imagine that you have become ill because you have eaten some food that contained pathogenic bacteria. You keep running to the toilet and you may also throw up. You go to the doctor and are prescribed broad-spectrum antibiotics, which - in addition to killing the bad bacteria in your intestinal flora - carpet bomb the complex community of commensal bacteria forming a healthy intestinal flora.

26 Apr 2018

Researchers develop new technique to study self-assembling virus shell

Northwestern Engineering researchers have developed a new way to manipulate a virus shell that self-assembles from proteins and holds promise as a carrier for disease detection, drug delivery, and vaccinations.

11 Apr 2018

Viruses dating back millions of years identified

Scientists have now discovered over 200 viruses that were till date unknown to humans. These belong to same strains that cause diseases such as hemorrhagic fevers (Dengue or Ebola) and influenza. Their origins have been traced back to millions of years when the animals first roamed earth. The study appeared in the latest issue of the journal Nature and was released online yesterday 4th April 2018.

5 Apr 2018

Study uses ACEA Biosciences’ xCELLigence assay to monitor disruption of S. aureus biofilms

Biofilms are surface-attached communities of bacterial or fungal cells that are enmeshed in an extensive extracellular matrix which makes them more resistant to both antibiotics and the immune system.

13 Mar 2018

Novel technology platform for custom designing bacteriophages

Bacteriophages, known informally as phages, are viruses that can attack and kill specific bacteria. They occur everywhere in the natural world. Precisely because they are matched to just one specific type of bacteria, researchers and medics hope that phages can be engineered to combat certain bacterial infections.

7 Feb 2018

TUM scientists build virus-sized structures using DNA origami technology

It is the double strands of our genes that make them so strong. Using a technique known as DNA origami, biophysicist Hendrik Dietz has been building nanometer-scale objects for several years at the Technical University of Munich.

7 Dec 2017

Scientists develop antibacterial ‘sugar-glass’ coating that uses viruses to destroy bacteria

With antibiotic resistance on the rise, bacterial contamination of food is becoming more problematic. Now in a study appearing in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, scientists report that they have developed an antibacterial "sugar-glass" coating in which viruses that destroy bacteria are embedded and are kept stable for up to three months.

8 Nov 2017

Physicists use computer simulations to study arrangement of stiff polymers in spherical cavities

Theoretical physicists led by Professor Kurt Binder and Dr. Arash Nikoubashman at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany have used computer simulations to study the arrangement of stiff polymers in spherical cavities.

26 Jul 2017