Antimicrobial resistance is steadily establishing itself as one of the most pressing issues in modern medicine. In a stride toward addressing this challenge, pioneering researchers have secured an £800,000 grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). This substantial funding is earmarked for advancing the production of bacteriophages to combat disease in the veterinary field and bring these treatments to market.

The grant has been awarded to Professor Martha Clokie, Director of the Leicester Centre of Phage Research, and Dr. Anisha Thanki, a key contributor to the development of a groundbreaking bacteriophage 'liquid' product designed to prevent Salmonella infections in broiler chickens. This accomplishment, in the scientific journal Emerging Microbes and Infections, laid the foundation for the current endeavor to scale up the production of these innovative medicines in adherence to UK guidelines. 

Bacteriophages, viruses that infect and destroy bacteria, exist naturally in our environment and are commonly found in places teeming with bacteria. Both the UK Government and the World Health Organization have recognized their immense potential in preventing and treating infections. Dr. Anisha Thanki, a dedicated researcher involved in this project, articulated the significance of bacteriophages in the battle against growing antimicrobial resistance. “We know that the development of bacteriophages will help counter growing resistance to existing antimicrobials. If a product such as this was eventually commercialized, it could save the farming industry billions of pounds each year while preventing Salmonella from entering our food chain – something which infects around 91,000 people in the EU every year.”

Thanki went on to emphasise the need to develop a pipeline for the effective production of bacteriophage treatments. “We’re very excited that this funding will allow us to translate this work to establish how to use phages effectively at a much larger scale and within UK regulation guidelines,” she said. “Once we do this, we aim to have a successful blueprint to enable other effective phage products to be brought to the commercial market.”

The two-year project, slated to commence early next year, will see a collaboration with Dr. Robert Atterbury from the University of Nottingham's School of Veterinary Medicine and Science. Dr. Thanki elaborated, “Working with the school will allow us to develop further models to study phage production on a larger scale and test production protocols to ensure its efficacy and safety.” 

Dr Robert Atterbury, Associate Professor in Microbiology at the University of Nottingham said: “Antimicrobial resistance is one of the key global public health challenges of the 21st century. Bacteriophages show great promise in the treatment of infections caused by multidrug resistant bacteria in animals and people. This exciting project, supported by the BBSRC, will allow us to address some of the key hurdles currently preventing their wider use in the agrifood sector and beyond.”

‍