Breaking the Wall of Antibiotic Resistance with Phage Therapy: FWLab UAlberta 2017

Drug resistant bacteria are on the rise and increasingly difficult to treat with antibiotics. In fact, the World Health Organization warns the world is grappling with a ‘serious lack’ of new antibiotics to fight superbugs. However, a potential new weapon is emerging—bacterial phages—naturally occurring viruses that can kill bacteria. Phages inject their DNA into the bacteria, replicates to make new phages, and then kills the host bacteria. University of Alberta MD student Abdullah Farooq believes genetically modifying the tail fibers of a single phages phage offers a potential weapon to fight and kill bacteria.