Antibiotic-resistant (AMR) pathogens are emerging at alarming rates and current treatment options are becoming increasingly limited, expensive, and in some cases, nonexistent. Two million antibiotic resistant infections occur annually in the U.S and, although there is an urgent and immediate need for agents with activity against these emerging multidrug-resistant pathogens, only 2 new antibiotics have been approved since 2009. Therefore, the development of alternative antibacterial agents is crucial. A promising alternative to antibiotics is bacteriophage (phage) which have a natural ability to selectively infect and kill target bacteria. Phage is receiving renewed interest as a safe and effective therapy, but techniques for the isolation, characterization, production and testing of phages to identify ?suitable? phage cocktail candidates are time consuming, expensive and low throughput. Here we propose innovative high-throughput methodologies based on a proven VT-FACS platform which mitigate or circumvent these constraints providing time- and cost-savings in development and production of therapeutic phage cocktails. The goal of this project is further development of VT-FACS, a high-throughput phage isolation pipeline, to advance, characterize and support the use and rapid selection of phage as an alternative to classical antibiotics.
Aim 1 will define and validate methods for screening and predicting likelihood of insolating pathogen- specific phage in prepared and archived lysates for informed on-demand selection.
In Aim 2 we will use VT- FACS and adapt current workflow to identify the optimal bacterial host for production of the most inclusive and highest titer phage to minimize final cocktail complexity and production cost. Finally, Aim 3 will use VT-FACS to develop and validate high-throughput methods that isolate phage with antibiofilm activity. Through these 3 independent aims we will develop essential methods which each accelerate development and production of bacteriophage as an antibacterial therapy. For highest throughput and efficiency in a future working environment, the proposed methods can be applied in tandem, are inherently scalable and have potential to be automated. Successful completion of this work will provide expedited and cost-effective means to select and produce pathogen specific phage with the required host-range and secondary activities necessary for phage therapy. The ultimate outcome of the research supports improved and personalized phage therapy options to combat today?s urgent antibiotic resistance threat.
Antimicrobial resistant bacteria are a growing concern and global health problem compounding effective treatment of many life-threatening infections. Bacteriophage are considered to a safe, effective and specific alternative to antibiotic therapies. The goal of this project is to establish and adapt high-throughput methods for efficient phage isolation, optimal phage production, and potential of phage to disrupt biofilms.
