Title: Isolation and characterisation of new phages against multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium abscessus m as an alternative therapy to antibiotics

Research group: Environmental and Biomedical Viruses

The misuse of antibiotics incited the emergency of multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria, a global health issue caused by the absence of effective treatment. The search for alternatives put phages under the spotlight, bacteria viruses as biomedical tools of great interest. Their specificity allows for ecologically-safe custom treatment with few side effects. Among multidrug-resistant bacteria, it’s worth highlighting Mycobacterium abscessus, an opportunistic microbacterium causing grave consequences, especially in patients with cystic fibrosis. This project seeks to isolate new phages capable of effectively crippling multidrug-resistant M. abscessus as an alternative treatment allowing to eliminate opportunistic infections and improve the life quality of patients. To that end, patients’ clinical isolates will be used as humane treatment in case of finding effective in-vitro phages.

Ana Gil Brusola

VLC-BIOMED

• Instituto de Biología Integrativa de Sistemas, Universitat de Valencia-CSIC
• Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria La Fe, Hospital Universitari i Politécnic La Fe