Synergy, real-time optimization of the design of personalized phage cocktail ecology

To help curb the antimicrobial resistance crisis, phage therapy, i.e. the process of using bacteriophages (phages, the viruses that infect bacteria) to cure bacterial disease, has been made a reality in Belgium. Patients are currently being treated with tailor-made magistral phage preparations as part of the standard of care for treating “difficult-to-treat" bacterial infections. However, currently, the Laboratory for Molecular and Cellular Technology (LabMCT) selects and produces therapeutic phages solely based on whether they target the bacterial strains that are infecting patients. This project aims to directly investigate, and then improve, Pseudomonas aeruginosa treatment with phages in patients by identifying phages that work well in combination. We will identify pairs of phages that work synergistically with each other, or antagonistically against each other, and then elucidate the ecological, molecular, and medical basis of their relationship. Our goal is to take advantage of the underlying mechanisms of inter-phage interactions to design a rational basis by which to predict ecological synergy between phages in a cocktail. We will apply the knowledge we gain to select (combinations of) phages that will be optimally suited to the context of the patients and improve treatment outcomes.

The Laboratory for Molecular and Cellular Technology (LabMCT) is leading the project as well as providing the infrastructure.

This project Synergy - HFM/21-04 is financed under the DFR call.