Marie Curie ITN PhD Project:
New approaches to overcoming the resistance problem in bacterial pathogens: developing bacteriophage therapy

Supervisor: Professor David A. Hodgson

Supervisor: Professor Elizabeth Wellington

Application deadline 31 May 2012

Project overview

Background: Antibiotic resistance amongst bacterial pathogens is a well-established problem and some pathogens are fast becoming untreatable due to excessive use and misuse of antibiotics. An additional problem is the diminishing range of antibiotics used for veterinary purposes which will not result in cross resistance to clinically important drugs. Overcoming this problem requires a new look at the way in which bacterial infections are controlled and how we can apply novel therapies that circumvent antibiotic resistance. Bacteriophage or phage therapy was seriously explored as a possible way of treating bacterial diseases before the onset of the antibiotic era. The increasing incidence of antibiotic resistance has rekindled interest in this mostly forgotten therapy (Thomas Häusler (2007) Viruses Vs. Superbugs: a Solution to the Antibiotics Crisis? Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN-13: 978-0230551930). The advantages of phage therapy are that as the phages are self-replicating they are effective at low doses and are self limiting and because they are specific they do not disturb the natural body microflora. The latter advantage is also a disadvantage in that you need to know the pathogenic strain is sensitive to the phage preparation used in the therapy.

The aim of this research is to isolate a wide range of bacteriophages for phage therapy purposes such that phage cocktails can be generated. A ready source of bacteriophages is lysogenic bacteriophages and we have already demonstrated that such bacteriophages can be modified to be effective agents for phage therapy.

Summary plan: In collaboration with Prof Luca Guardabassi and colleagues, Department of Veterinary Disease Biology, University of Copenhagen, we are engaged in developing phage therapy for topical treatment of skin infections in dogs. Skin infections due to Staphylococcus pseudintermedius are the most common cause of antimicrobial prescription in dogs, and are routinely treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics. Similarly to MRSA in humans, a specific genetic lineage of methicillin-resistant S. pseudintermedius (MRSP) corresponding to multi-locus sequence type 71 (MRSP ST71) has rapidly spread in Europe over the last years. The intention is characterise previously isolated bacteriophages and to isolate and characterise new virulent and lysogenic bacteriophages against MRSP ST71 strains. These bacteriophages will then be modified such that they can be used in effective phage therapy cocktails.

Funding

• Exact salary (including mobility allowance) will be confirmed upon appointment but will be at least £39,000.

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants must meet the requirements of the EU Marie Curie training schemes.

• Mobility

The researcher must not have resided, worked or studied in the United Kingdom for more than 12 months in the 3 years prior to the time of recruitment. Short stays are not taken into account.

• Qualification and Research Experience
  

Early stage researchers have at the time of recruitment not yet been awarded the doctorate degree and are in the first 4 years (full-time equivalent) of their research careers.

• English language

It is a requirement that overseas students will show that their ability to understand and express themselves in both written and spoken English is sufficiently high for them to derive the full benefit from the PhD. Please note that the requirement for admission is IELTS 6.5 or equivalent TOEFL score. More information can be found at: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/international/apply/englishlanguage/.

Contact details for application enquiries:

Professor David Hodgson email: D.A.Hodgson@warwick.ac.uk