Balint Kintses

I am committed to advancing precision medicine strategies to combat antibiotic resistance, a critical global health issue. Using cutting-edge systems and synthetic biology approaches—including bioinformatics, genome engineering, genomics and metagenomics—we aim to:

• Understand the evolution of resistance to new antimicrobials. Over the past five years, we have significantly contributed to elucidating how resistance develops against antimicrobial peptides and antibiotics in clinical development. To achieve this, we developed a new functional metagenomic method using engineered bacteriophages to study horizontal gene transfer in microbial communities.

• Investigate pathogen spread. We studied the COVID-19 pandemic using genomic epidemiology tools and are investigating the transmission dynamics of nosocomial infections.

• Create innovative therapeutic strategies with bacteriophages. We mapped the genetic diversity and geographic distribution of a critically antibiotic-resistant bacterial species, carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, on a continental scale. Using this data, we developed a therapeutic phage collection that targets the majority of infections within specific geographic regions. Understanding pathogen populations is essential for identifying patients who require the same phage treatment, facilitating clinical trials, and promoting the broader adoption of phage therapy.

Ultimately, our work aims to serve as a guide on how modern biological approaches can be harnessed to develop personalized treatments capable of tackling even the most resilient bacteria.