Category: Latest News

How Bacteria Spot Viral Invasion and Ramp Up Immune Defenses?

Posted on by Targeting Phage Therapy
A viral RNA produced during Φ80α-vir infection activates Ssc-CdnE03 in vitro Researchers at The Rockefeller University’s Laboratory of Bacteriology have uncovered a novel mechanism through which bacteria defend against viral infections, known as the cyclic oligonucleotide-based antiphage signaling system (CBASS). This intricate immune response protects prokaryotes by triggering the production of cyclic oligonucleotides, activating proteins…

Phables: Advancing Phage Research for a Healthier Future

Posted on by Targeting Phage Therapy
Processing workflow. Credits: Flinders Accelerator for Microbiome Exploration, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University In a significant leap forward for phage research, Flinders University’s College of Science and Engineering introduces “Phables”, a bioinformatics software program designed to address the challenges in identifying and characterizing phage genomes within fragmented viral metagenome assemblies. This innovative tool,…

New Structural Antibiotic Classes Discovered through Explainable Deep Learning

Posted on by Targeting Phage Therapy
In the relentless pursuit of novel solutions to combat the escalating antibiotic resistance crisis, a groundbreaking paper, published in the Nature Journal, reveals a pioneering approach to the discovery of new structural classes of antibiotics. The paper challenges the current status quo in antibiotic discovery by leveraging the power of deep learning. Acknowledging the urgency…

Promising Path for Periprosthetic Hip Infection Recovery: The Power of Phage-Antibiotic Combination Therapy

Posted on by Targeting Phage Therapy
A new Russian study, published in the journal “Viruses”, study delves into the efficacy of combined phage/antibiotic therapy for treating periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) in adult patients with deep PJI of the hip joint. The research, which included 45 adult patients undergoing one-stage revision surgery, presents compelling evidence that could reshape the landscape of PJI…

Sterile Faecal Filtrate Transplantation Shows Promise in Managing Metabolic Syndrome, According to Double-Blind Clinical Trial

Posted on by Targeting Phage Therapy
Overview of the faecal samples used for the bulk metagenomic sequencing (for bacteriome and phageome) and the metagenomic sequencing of the viral-like particles (VLP) A double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted by a team in The Netherlands in order to assess the efficacy and safety of sterile faecal filtrate transplantation in individuals with metabolic…

Therapeutically useful mycobacteriophages BPs and Muddy require trehalose polyphleates

Posted on by Targeting Phage Therapy
Proposed roles of Pks, PapA3, FadD23, MmpL10 and PE in the synthesis and transport of TPPs and DAT Mycobacteriophages show promise as therapeutic agents for non-tuberculous mycobacterium infections. However, little is known about phage recognition of Mycobacterium cell surfaces or mechanisms of phage resistance. A new study, led by Graham F. Hatfull from the University of Pittsburgh…

Treating bladder infections with viruses

Posted on by Targeting Phage Therapy
The pathogens that cause urinary tract infections are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics. ETH Zurich researchers have now developed a rapid test and a new therapeutic approach using bacteria-​infecting viruses known as phages. In brief ETH Zurich researchers have developed a new rapid test that uses bacteriophages – viruses that infect bacteria – to quickly…

Centenarians’ Diverse Gut Virome: Potential to Modulate Metabolism and Promote Healthy Lifespan

Posted on by Targeting Phage Therapy
After last week’s meeting Targeting Phage Therapy 2023 where Prof. Edeas talked about the role of phages in microbiota modulation, this new paper (Nature Microbiology) highlights the richness of the virome and bacteriophages in Centenarians. Johansen et al., from Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, presented a characterization of the centenarian gut virome using previously…

Microbiome-friendly phages join the campaign for better antimicrobials

Posted on by Targeting Phage Therapy
Phages offer a possible solution to bacterial infections that become resistant to antimicrobial agents. Credit: Stocktrek Images, Inc./Alamy Stock Photo Biotech companies are racing to test bacteriophages — some as found in nature, others armed with CRISPR–Cas — to destroy drug-resistant bacteria selectively while keeping the microbiome intact. Bacteriophages are attracting investor support to do the…

Detection of Salmonella Typhi bacteriophages in surface waters as a scalable approach to environmental surveillance

Posted on by Targeting Phage Therapy
Environmental surveillance, using detection of Salmonella Typhi DNA, has emerged as a potentially useful tool to identify typhoid-endemic settings; however, it is relatively costly and requires molecular diagnostic capacity. Shrestha et al. sought to determine whether S. Typhi bacteriophages are abundant in water sources in a typhoid-endemic setting, using low-cost assays. They collected drinking and surface…