The Targeting Phage Therapy 2023 Best Poster Presentation award was discerned to:
New Ways to Fight Bacterial Pathogens: Metagenomics Analysis for the Discovery of a Thermostable Endolysin With High Bactericidal Activity
Panagiota Pantiora,
Ms. Pantiora is currently a PhD student in Enzyme Biotechnology, at the Laboratory of Enzyme Technology of AUA, under the supervision of Prof. Labrou Nikolaos. Her thesis is entitled “Protein Engineering and Metagenomics analysis for the development of novel therapeutic and technological hydrolytic enzymes”.
Ms. Pantiora shared with phage therapy team the following: “Our research work aims at the discovery and identification of novel lytic enzymes, isolated via metagenomics analysis from ecosystems with extreme conditions, that exhibit significant antimicrobial potential against human multi-resistant bacterial pathogens. We implement functional genomics, bioinformatic analysis and tools, molecular biology methods, in vitro biochemical experiments, as well as in vitro and in vivo antimicrobial and cytotoxicity assays to evaluate the therapeutic efficiency of the new endolysins. In addition, we apply protein engineering through in vitro directed evolution and fusion with antimicrobial peptides targeting to enhance the antibacterial potential of these enzymes.
Moreover, our future goals include the utilization of these novel endolysins for the development of probiotics aiming to strengthen the physiological human intestinal microflora. We hope that our research will contribute, in the near future, to the confrontation of the antibiotic crisis, by presenting novel biomolecules with significant antimicrobial activity that renders them ideal therapeutic candidates of infections caused by resistant bacteria.”
You can learn about this insightful discovery and well executed poster in Targeting Phage Therapy 2023 Abstracts Book.
Targeting Phage Therapy 2023 Congress
6th World Conference
June 1-2, 2023 – Paris, France