SynPhage (Synthetic Phage)

Since 2018, phage therapy, the process of using the viruses that infect bacteria to cure bacterial disease, has been made a reality in Belgium. At the Queen Astrid Military Hospital (QAMH) in Brussels, and all Belgian university hospitals, patients are now being treated with phage preparations, which are exclusively produced in the QAMH. However, one phage can only infect a part of one single bacterial species. These personalized phage therapy approaches thus require large therapeutic phage banks, which need to be regularly updated with new phages. In addition, the patient’s bacterial strains and matching phages need to be sent to and from the QAMH, respectively. The present study will provide a proof of principle for an alternative and innovative phage production system, focusing on Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae phages, and based on artificial intelligence and synthetic biology. The proposed cell-free phage production process will allow for the instant and on site production of synthetic phages and will not require phage banks or the circulation of bacterial isolates and phages. It would represent a paradigm shift in the production of personalized (phage) medicines.