Nexxus Scotland

Edinburgh International Phage Conference

Bacteriophages (or phages) are viruses which only infect bacteria.  They infect, multiply inside and often kill their bacterial host with hundreds of progeny potentially being releases from each infected cell.  In recent years there has been a huge interest in using phages as tools in biotechnology but this research has covered a diverse range of fields and there is little inter-disciplinary collaboration.  There has not been a dedicated international phage conference in Europe for many years.

On the 26^th of July 2008 the first Edinburgh International Phage Conference (http://www.edinburghphageconference.org/) is being held at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.  This meeting is designed to bring researchers who have a detailed knowledge of phages and phage biology together with companies who are using bacteriophages or those who are interested in using bacteriophages for practical and commercial applications.  This meeting is of interest to researchers who have been involved in basic phage research for many years as well as those new to the field and those with an interest in commercialising phage products.   It is hoped that this meeting will be the springboard for a regular series of meetings and the establishment of an international society.

Phages have many potential uses.  The ability of phages to kill bacteria has led to the proposal that they could potentially be used as antibacterial agents for the treatment of disease in a technique known as phage therapy.  The increase in the number of antibiotic resistant infections means that many countries throughout the world are now interested in phages as a viable alternative treatment for these diseases.  Additionally, the FDA recently approved the use of a phage spray to treat meat for Listeria contamination, clinical trials against other diseases are currently proceeding in Europe and research in to using whole phage or phage-derived products to treat bacterial infections is at an all-time high.

There are now many relatively new potential uses of bacteriophages, based on modifying the basic phage particle.  The ease with which phage genomes and coat proteins can be manipulated combined with the fact they are naturally inert outside their bacterial host has also led to phages being used as vectors for delivering other biologicals or as building blocks for nanomachines.  A few examples include using modified phage to grow organic batteries; phage for targeted drug delivery; phage attached to silicon chips to detect pathogens; phage to deliver vaccines and using unmodified phage, delivered nasally, to break down amyloid plaques in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The Edinburgh phage conference will cover all uses of phages in biotechnology and will aim to stimulate discussion on the common problems that are encountered and examine ways of facilitating approval of phage products for their commercial exploitation.

For further details please see Website

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