Advisor Information
Dr. William Tapprich
Location
ROOM 232
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Start Date
1-3-2019 2:15 PM
End Date
1-3-2019 3:15 PM
Abstract
Bacteria are responsible for many Healthcare-Associated infections each year and are evolving to become multidrug resistant (MDR). Bacteriophages, also called phages, are naturally occurring bacterial viruses. These phages infect and kill their bacterial hosts. It is estimated that there are 10 different phages, per bacterium. This makes phages the most abundant entity in the biosphere. Isolating and characterizing these naturally occurring bacterial killers offers the potential for strain specific treatment of MDR infections. Such treatments, coined Phage Therapy, can be used in the fight against evolving bacterial infections. Pseudomonads are a classification of bacteria that infect a variety of plants and animals and are talented at gaining resistance to multiple antibiotics. We screen freshwater samples for bacteriophages effective against a Pseudomonas fluorescens host in the hopes of finding novel phages with broad Pseudomonad host range. Using an array of microbiology and bioinformatic tools we plan to extensively characterize bacteriophages and test their host range. Currently, we have several novel phage isolates representing three unique families of tailed bacteriophages. We have already characterized the viral particles and genomes from these phages and we are completing screens to determine their host ranges.
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."
Included in
Isolating and Characterizing Novel Bacteriophages from Freshwater Samples
ROOM 232
Bacteria are responsible for many Healthcare-Associated infections each year and are evolving to become multidrug resistant (MDR). Bacteriophages, also called phages, are naturally occurring bacterial viruses. These phages infect and kill their bacterial hosts. It is estimated that there are 10 different phages, per bacterium. This makes phages the most abundant entity in the biosphere. Isolating and characterizing these naturally occurring bacterial killers offers the potential for strain specific treatment of MDR infections. Such treatments, coined Phage Therapy, can be used in the fight against evolving bacterial infections. Pseudomonads are a classification of bacteria that infect a variety of plants and animals and are talented at gaining resistance to multiple antibiotics. We screen freshwater samples for bacteriophages effective against a Pseudomonas fluorescens host in the hopes of finding novel phages with broad Pseudomonad host range. Using an array of microbiology and bioinformatic tools we plan to extensively characterize bacteriophages and test their host range. Currently, we have several novel phage isolates representing three unique families of tailed bacteriophages. We have already characterized the viral particles and genomes from these phages and we are completing screens to determine their host ranges.