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Bacteriophage Effectiveness for Biocontrol of Foodborne Pathogens Evaluated via High-Throughput Settings
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Bacteriophage Effectiveness for Biocontrol of Foodborne Pathogens Evaluated via High-Throughput Settings

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Building Better Bacteriophage with Biofoundries to Combat Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

Karen D Weynberg1,2, Paul R Jaschke3

  • 1School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Australia.

PHAGE (New Rochelle, N.Y.)
|September 23, 2022
PubMed

Insights

Antibiotic resistance is a global crisis. Synthetic biology can enhance bacteriophage (phage) therapy to combat multidrug-resistant bacteria, with biofoundries playing a key role in its development.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Synthetic Biology
  • Biotechnology

Background:

  • Antibiotic resistance poses a significant global health threat.
  • Phage therapy, using bacteriophages to kill bacteria, is an alternative treatment.
  • Phage specificity limits their effectiveness against diverse bacterial strains.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore synthetic biology's potential for enhancing phage therapeutics.
  • To discuss the role of biofoundries in advancing phage therapy.

Main Methods:

  • The article is a perspective piece, discussing existing and potential applications.
  • It reviews the principles of synthetic biology in phage engineering.
  • It highlights the capabilities of biofoundries for scalable phage production and modification.

Main Results:

  • Synthetic biology offers tools to engineer phages with broader host ranges and improved efficacy.
  • Biofoundries can accelerate the development and deployment of customized phage therapies.
  • This approach can overcome limitations of natural phage infectivity.

Conclusions:

  • Synthetic biology presents a promising avenue to enhance phage therapy against multidrug-resistant pathogens.
  • Biofoundries are crucial for the industrialization and clinical translation of engineered phage therapeutics.
  • This innovative strategy could provide a vital solution to the antibiotic resistance crisis.
Keywords:
antimicrobial resistancebacteriophagebiofoundrylaboratory automationmultidrug-resistant bacteria

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