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Updated: Jan 1, 2026

Bacteriophage Effectiveness for Biocontrol of Foodborne Pathogens Evaluated via High-Throughput Settings
Published on: August 19, 2021
Engineered bacteriophages as programmable biocontrol agents
1Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States; Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
Abstract:
Bacteriophages (or 'phages') can be potent biocontrol agents but their potential has not been fully realized due to inherent limitations of natural phages. By leveraging new tools in synthetic biology, natural phages can be engineered to overcome these limitations to markedly improve their efficacy and programmability. Engineered phages can be used for targeted detection and removal of pathogens, in situ microbiome editing, gene delivery and programmable control of phage-bacterial interactions. In this mini review we examine different ways natural phages can be engineered as effective biocontrol agents through a design-build-test-learn platform and identify novel applications of engineered phages in food biotechnology.
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