Newswise — The great promise of bacteriophages is that they naturally destroy bacteria, often in situations where antibiotics fail. Until now, though, there has been no way to access them quickly and efficiently, especially in emergency cases of antibiotic resistant infections. Researchers at McMaster University, working with a colleague from Université Laval, have developed a simple new way to store, identify, and share phages, making them more accessible to patients who need them.
“Bacteriophages are often talked about as a beacon of hope, but they are harder to use than traditional antibiotics, because there are so many varieties,” says lead investigator Zeinab Hosseinidoust, a McMaster chemical engineer who holds the Canada Research Chair in Bacteriophage Bioengineering. The research team’s work is described in a paper published today in the journal Nature Communications . Bacteriophages, or phages as they are called less formally, are beneficial viruses that could change the course of medicine and agriculture, especially as antibiotic resistance grows worldwide.
Each form of bacteriophage is specialized to attack a particular form of bacteria and nothing else, allowing phages to be directed specifically at infections while leaving beneficial bacteria alone. A major challenge to harnessing their huge potential is creating easier and faster access to collections of phages. “We don’t have a central library of phages to refer to when we need to use them.
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