Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 29, 2025

Bacteriophage Effectiveness for Biocontrol of Foodborne Pathogens Evaluated via High-Throughput Settings
Published on: August 19, 2021
Approaches to optimize therapeutic bacteriophage and bacteriophage-derived products to combat bacterial infections
Monika Reuter1, Detlev H Kruger2
1Institute of Virology, Helmut-Ruska-Haus, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany. dr.monika.reuter@gmx.net.
Abstract:
The emerging occurrence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens leads to a recollection of bacteriophage as antimicrobial therapeutics. This article presents a short overview of the clinical phage application including their use in military medicine and discusses the genotypic and phenotypic properties of a potential "ideal" therapeutic phage. We describe current efforts to engineer phage for their improved usability in pathogen treatment. In addition, phage can be applied for pathogen detection, selective drug delivery, vaccine development, or food and surface decontamination. Instead of viable phage, (engineered) phage-derived enzymes, such as polysaccharide depolymerases or peptidoglycan-degrading enzymes, are considered as promising therapeutic candidates. Finally, we briefly summarize the use of phage for the detection and treatment of "Category A priority pathogens".
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Lytic Cycle of Bacteriophages
Biological Methods for Microbial Control
Microorganisms in Medicine and Therapeutics
DNA Bacteriophages
Lysogenic Cycle of Bacteriophages
Viral Replication: Lytic Cycle

