Issue 161
C&T Round Up for Dec & Jan!
This week, we highlight the features we published in Dec & Jan! Learn about combining phages with antibiotics, scaling up phage production, the new Web3 x science movement, and catch Phage Directory's 2021 reflection and 2022 outlook!
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Submit your manuscript here for the March issue of PHAGE Journal!
Check out the top 2 downloaded articles from December's Special Issue on Phage Informatics and AI:
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From Trees to Clouds: PhageClouds for Fast Comparison of 640,000 Phage Genomic Sequences and Host-Centric Visualization Using Genomic Network Graphs — Guillermo Rangel-Pineros et al.
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Phage Annotation Guide: Guidelines for Assembly and High-Quality Annotation — Dann Turner et al.
Community digest1alert5updates4jobs2posts
Phage alert
Urgent need for Klebsiella variicola phages for a patient in Germany
We are urgently seeking Klebsiella variicola phages for a patient in Germany
Ways to help at this stage:
- By sending your phages for testing on the patient's strain
- By receiving the strain and testing your phages
- By receiving the strain and using it to search for new phages against the organism
- By offering to prepare phages supplied by others to clinical grade
- By helping spread the word about this request
- By providing us with names/email addresses of labs you think we should contact
Please email staff@phage.directory if you can help in any way, or if you would like further details/clarification.
Let’s make a difference, Phage Directory
Updates
Clinical trial approval: Pherecydes Pharma obtains ANSM Approval for its PhagoDAIR program, which treats osteoarticular infections of prosthetic joints caused by Staphylococcus aureus.
ACD Pharma is constructing a large-scale phage production plant.
Paper: Staphylococcal phages adapt to new hosts by extensive attachment site variability — Helena Leinweber et al.
Paper: A new sugar for an old phage: a c-di-GMP-dependent polysaccharide pathway sensitizes Escherichia coli for bacteriophage infection — Benjamin Sellner et al.
Paper: Isolation and characterization of Campylobacter jejuni–specific bacteriophages from Germany and their suitability for use in food production — Severin Michael Steffan et al.
Jobs
Postdoc in phage engineering: The Hartmann lab at Northwestern University is seeking independent, resourceful postdoc researchers experienced in molecular biology & interested in microbial ecology and infectious disease. Potential projects include development of ecologically inspired molecular therapeutics for infection. Candidates also encouraged to propose research topics of their own related to environmental chemistry, microbiomes.
Postdoc: Join the Talbert Research Group at Iowa State University to work on an NIH-funded project focused on bacteriophage engineering for therapeutic applications.
Postdoc: CSIRO Postdoctoral Fellowship in Phage Therapy Bioinformatics, to develop new technology for phage therapy, in conjunction with the MRFF Frontiers funded Phage Australia project.
PhD candidate to characterize host-virus mechanisms, investigate the evolutionary processes that led to their emergence, and measure their activity in diverse biomes.
Community board
Thanks to all who came out to the first iVoM Season 2 event of 2022!
Next: Feb 2 from 2-3 PM CET Topic: Phage application in the One Health approach. Speakers: Dr. Cath Rees, Prof. Mariana Piuri, Prof. Lone Brøndsted.
If you want to join this series, which will run through May, please register at https://ivom.phage.directory — as many of you know, ISVM is asking for a small contribution from senior scientists and industry for access to this series, which will support ISVM’s activities now and in the future.
Phage Directory is a proud partner of this event, and so are the local organizers for VoM 2022, the upcoming in-person/hybrid conference in Portugal July 18-22!
Hi, I'm looking for a Staph aureus phage that is either phage K or a close relative. I want to use this in my animal model of diabetic foot ulcer infection. I'm at Flinders University in Australia. Thanks. Peter Speck (peter.speck@flinders.edu.au)
In this month's Capsid & Tail Monthly Round Up issue, we're highlighting the five feature articles we published in December and January (a two-for-one special!). Be sure to check them out if you missed them, and let us know if you have thoughts, comments or questions! Reach us anytime by email!
- Molecular multitasking: inhibition of phage infection by aminoglycoside antibiotics, Aël Hardy's PHAVES talk, recapped by Sayde Perry
- Reflecting back on 2021, a reflection article by Jessica Sacher and Jan Zheng.
- 2022: Building the Operating System for Phage Therapy, an outlook article by Jan Zheng and Jessica Sacher.
- Which single-use bioreactor is right for me?, a product information article by Robert Matthew from Cellexus
- Let’s focus the power of Web3 on science & biotech’s problems, a cross-post from Jessica Sacher's new blog, Jessica’s TechBio Adventures
C&T Throwback!
There's lots of great phage stuff in the C&T archive! Check out this article on Patient perspective: My life since learning of phage therapy one year ago by Ella Balasa, a cystic fibrosis patient who received phage therapy from Yale researchers in 2019.
Many thanks to Atif Khan and Stephanie Lynch for finding and summarizing this week's phage news, jobs and community posts!
Stephanie Lynch, PhD
Stephanie is a postdoctoral researcher for the Iredell Group at Westmead Institute for Medical Research, NSW. Her project focuses on phage therapy for compassionate human cases (as part of Phage Australia), with a particular interest in Staphylococcal phages. In 2021, Stephanie completed her thesis titled ‘Exploring phage therapy for Staphylococcus pseudintermedius infections in canines'. Steph is always willing to chat about phage research and would like to connect with phage biotech companies.