Reinventing the fight against bacteria, one phage at a time.

New study reveals a minimalist bacterial defense that disrupts viral assembly University of Toronto researchers have expanded our understanding of bacterial immunity with the discovery of a new protein that can both sense and counteract viral infections. Source: Erin Howe/University of Toronto Professors Michael Norris (left) and Karen Maxwell In the new study, published in  Nature , researchers from U of T’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine describe how a single protein named Rip1 recognizes bacteriophages, the viruses that infect bacteria, and cause infected bacteria to die prematurely, thereby ending the chain of transmission. “There are a lot of parallels between our immune system and bacterial immune systems,” says Karen Maxwell, the study’s co-senior author and a professor of biochemistry at Temerty Medicine.   Her research is focused on understanding how bacteria protect themselves against phages and how phages overcome these defences, with the long-term goal of us...

Novel phage DNA modifications offer new hope against antibiotic-resistant superbugs Dr. Junzhou Wu (center) and colleagues demonstrate that natural DNA modifications in phages occur at a much higher rate than previously predicted. The new study not only improves the understanding of phage biology, but also revises the fundamental understanding of phage biology, opening up new avenues for discovering other novel phage DNA modification systems.-  Photo courtesy of SMART An international team of researchers has made a breakthrough discovery regarding the intricate defense systems of bacteriophages (phages) — viruses that can specifically target harmful bacteria without harming human cells and beneficial microbes. The researchers found a novel type of phage DNA modification, with the addition of up to three arabinose sugars, that could help protect phage DNA from damage and enable it to survive bacterial attacks. This knowledge could be leveraged to develop new, targeted phage treatmen...

Viruses Behave Totally Differently in Space and It Could Help Us Treat Superbugs on Earth Bacteria and viruses are locked in a slow motion battle aboard the ISS that looks nothing like life on the ground. The International Space Station photographed above the Earth from the space shuttle Atlantis in 2011. Credit: NASA Bacteriophages  — viruses that prey on bacteria — are nature’s tiniest predators. On Earth, their lives are shaped by an ordinary physics engine we rarely think about: gravity-driven mixing. Liquids circulate, nutrients move, microbes bump into one another, and phages stumble into susceptible cells. Take gravity away and you get a microbial world where particles drift,  convection  fades, and the odds of a productive collision change. Yet even in the near-weightlessness of the International Space Station (ISS), viruses called phages can still infect bacteria, a new  PLOS Biology  study reports . But microgravity seems to change the pace and rules o...

Golden Gate method enables rapid, fully-synthetic engineering of therapeutically relevant bacteriophages Simplified bacteriophage design and synthesis to propel long-obstructed bacteriophage research in new PNAS study from New England Biolabs® and Yale University                   Bacteriophages have been used therapeutically to treat infectious bacterial diseases for over a century. As antibiotic-resistant infections increasingly threaten public health, interest in bacteriophages as therapeutics has seen a resurgence. However, the field remains largely limited to naturally occurring strains, as laborious strain engineering techniques have limited the pace of discovery and the creation of tailored therapeutic strains. Now, researchers from New England Biolabs (NEB®) and Yale University describe the first fully synthetic bacteriophage engineering system for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an antibiotic-resistant bacterium of global concern, in a ...

NexaBiome accelerates development of novel diabetic foot treatment with Scottish Enterprise funding UK biotechnology company NexaBiome Life Sciences Ltd has received continued funding from Scotland's national economic development agency, Scottish Enterprise, to accelerate its breakthrough bacteriophage technology for the treatment of diabetic foot infections (DFIs). The funding is the second tranche of support in a £125k project to support the development of a stable, room-temperature wound dressing aimed at treating DFIs, a severe complication of diabetes that has been exacerbated by drug-resistant bacteria and which can lead to amputation or death. The grant supports NexaBiome’s commitment to developing alternative medicines to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Dr. Jason Clark, Chief Executive Officer at NexaBiome, said: “We’re grateful for Scottish Enterprise’s ongoing support. This will help accelerate the development of our formulation for DFIs, which has the potential to...

Armata to advance bacteriophage therapy to phase 3 for S. aureus LOS ANGELES - Armata Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE American:ARMP) announced Tuesday that the FDA has agreed that data from its Phase 2a diSArm study support advancement of AP-SA02 to Phase 3 clinical testing for complicated Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia. The biotech company, currently valued at $238.47 million, has seen its stock surge over 230% in the past year, trading at $6.68 as investors react to its clinical progress. According to  InvestingPro  data, analysts maintain a Strong Buy consensus on the stock with price targets ranging from $9 to $15. The company plans to initiate the Phase 3 superiority study in the second half of 2026, following the FDA’s End-of-Phase 2 written response. The regulatory agency provided guidance on key elements of the study design, which will assess AP-SA02’s effectiveness compared to current standard of care treatments. "The completion of our Phase 2a diSArm was the first evid...

  $3.3M to Fund Trial of Ai-Designed Bacteriophage Therapy for HAP/VAP Locus Biosciences will conduct a clinical trial for its Ai-designed bacteriophage therapeutic for HAP/VAP caused by antibiotic-resistant P. aeruginosa. RT’s Three Key Takeaways: Federal support for phage therapy  – Locus Biosciences received a $3.3 million NIAID contract, with potential expansion to $28 million, to advance a Phase 1b clinical trial of its engineered bacteriophage LBP-PA01 for antibiotic-resistant  Pseudomonas aeruginosa  pneumonia. AI-designed precision antibacterial  – LBP-PA01 was developed using Locus’s AI- and robotics-driven platform, which rapidly designs and optimizes engineered bacteriophage cocktails to selectively kill drug-resistant bacteria. Addressing a critical public health threat  – The program targets hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated pneumonia, major ICU killers for which antibiotic-resistant  P. aeruginosa  is a CDC-designated ...