Engineering Bacteriophages for Specific Bacterial Targeting

Robert J. Citorik, Mark Mimee, Timothy K. Lu
Interest in bacteriophages has seen a rebirth in recent years as the result of increasing antibiotic resistance in bacterial infections, the recognition of their important role in the human microbiome, and the development of new tools and approaches for engineering designer phages. In the past year, we demonstrated the creation of sequence-­�specific antimicrobials by using phages as delivery vehicles for RNA-­�guided nucleases. Ongoing work has focused on expanding the application of this technology to target new bacteria. As we gain experience in optimizing the system for different targets, we aim to create a platform that can be translated into a programmable system for specific removal of bacteria to alleviate infection and dysbiosis in microbial communities.