Develop an innovative phage technology to control Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157 safely and effectively in food packaging, complementing other control and surveillance strategies.
To effectively control E. coli O157 and alleviate the global health crisis caused by antimicrobial resistance, this project will address a gap in the infection, focusing on bacterial proliferation in cultures and biofilms found in packaged foods, which significantly contributes to the transmission of the pathogen. This would be achieved through an innovative phage technology in food packaging to complement existing methods.
Phages have great advantages over antibiotics. They are easy to isolate and develop, can effectively target and kill antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in biofilms (which are common in food packaging), are safe on the gut microbiome, and amplify at infection sites, ensuring continuous dose supply of viral particles. This project aims to isolate and characterise the morphology, stability, genome content, and host range properties of lytic phages for E. coli O157. The aim is also to optimise phage cocktails from the phages for better lysis coverage and to mitigate any resistance effects. The therapeutic potential of the cocktails will be investigated in relevant infection models.
Knowledge gained here would direct further development of the phages for the control of E. coli O157 in food packaging. The strategy is timely in the context of antimicrobial resistance.
The project will be based at SRUC’s Rural and Veterinary Innovation Centre (RAVIC) in Inverness.
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