Phage Therapy

The first scientific event in the Colombia on the subject of bacteriophages and bacteriophage therapy will take place in Bogota between the 17th and 18th of August. The event has been organised by the faculty of science of the well renowned University of Los Andes.

The meeting will have  the participation of international visitors from different parts of the world: Elizabeth Kutter (U.S.), Patricia Escobar (France), Raul Raya (Argentina) and myself (representing Australia). The event will be complemented by students presentations  eager to show their progress in the area so far.

The registration for the event is free but spaces are limited. Make sure to register so you don’t miss out on this first event.

For more details visit the university website here

The Return Of Phage Therapy - The Australian

After a series of very interesting presentations around the country about the potential of phage therapy, The Australian newspaper decided to do a follow up report about the subject. The newspaper addressed some of the points that people unfamiliar with the subject will be interested to learn about.

Things like what are bacteriophages, where do you find them? What do they look like?  A virus? Is it really good for us?  What is phage therapy? Why haven’t you heard about it? Has the field made any progress? When will the therapy be available?

If you, as many others,  have the same questions, you will be interested in reading the full article. If you have any more questions, please feel free to write a comment below. I would be more than happy to answer your questions.

Click here to read the full article.

The ASM meeting was held this year in Sydney. On its last day, the meeting had a special symposium about “Alternatives to Antibiotics”. Tom Riley and Jon Iredell chaired the symposium that counted with a very high number of attendants.

The session was opened by Dr. Liz Harry who presented some of her results on the effects of Manuka Honey on the growth of Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria. Liz, in collaboration with the company that manufactures the honey, has been studying its effects in the treatment of wounds caused by bacteria.

The second presentation featured Dr Tony Smithyman who talked about the “Return of Phage Therapy”. Tony is the founder of Special Phage Services, the only Australian company working on the development of bacteriophage products for the treatment of human bacterial infections. Tony’s talk focused on providing an overview on the past, present and future of bacteriophage therapy and in particular, the future and progress of bacteriophage therapy in Australia.

The increased number of bacterial infections, in particular antibiotic resistant infections, both hospital and community acquired, continues to be an important issue around the world. It is comforting to know that the ASM and Australian scientists are open to the discussion of alternative antibacterial therapies and solution have been sought from different angles.

The discovery of antibiotics in the 20^th century was perhaps one of the greatest breakthroughs in human medicine with millions of lives saved ever since. However, the exponential rise of antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens causing human infection has rapidly developed into one of the most significant issues in modern medicine. Of major concern is the emergence of strains of bacteria resistant to many commonly available antibiotics, the so-called “Multi-resistant strains”. The situation has reached such a critical point that the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of a return to a “pre-antibiotic era”.

This of course resulted not only in a major shift in the way antibiotics are used but it has also inspired the search for alternative treatments. So what are the alternatives? Continue Reading

It is that time for the bacteriophage therapy community again! The 18th International Phage Biology Meeting at The Evergreen State College will be held this year from 9th August to the 13th.

The meeting gives all of us the opportunity to explore phage related subjects such as phage biology, the fast growing field of genomics, ecology and off course phage applications. This is the perfect space to meet people interested in your field from all over the world and to build new working relationships. If you are seriously interested in phages (as much as I am) this is really a “do not miss event”.

The 50^th anniversary of the ASM was celebrated this year in Perth with the highest scientific standards. The organization of the meeting was flawless and many important subjects demanding the attention of the scientific community were discussed.

The increased number of bacterial infections, in particular antibiotic resistant infections, both hospital and community acquired, were again an important part of the meeting. In particular, infections derived from the presence of these pathogens in medical devices and the increased human morbidity and mortality that appears to be linked to this infections was one of the most predominant subjects.

Several alternatives researched to the problem were presented including cationic peptides and fimbrolides were suggested as viable options for future developments.

I presented at the Riverside Theatre our work: In vitro and in vivo efficacy of bacteriophage therapy cocktails for the treatment of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa.