The Leibniz Institute DSMZ invites you to the journalists’ seminar “If you don’t PHAGT, you don’t win!” on June 6, 2023
Phage (red) docked to a Pseudomonas aeruginosa (blue)
On June 6, 2023, the Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH is conducting a journalists’ seminar “Phages: If you don’t PHAGT, you don’t win!”.
Multidrug-resistant bacteria are a silent but deadly threat to humanity. The WHO describes this “silent pandemic” as a global threat to health and development. Cross-sectoral action is urgently needed. Multidrug-resistant bacteria kill at least 1.2 million people globally every year. In Germany there are 400,000 to 600,000 nosocomial infections every year and between 10,000 and 20,000 people die from them. Against this background, the targeted use of antibiotics and the research and establishment of new therapy concepts are of great importance. Examples of new active substances are antibiotics. Bacteriophages are probably also of great importance.
Bacteriophages (phages for short) are viruses that can only recognize and interact with bacteria, so in the next step they invade and multiply in the bacteria, finally dissolving (lysing) the bacteria. In this case, phages lyse specifically only within one type of bacteria. Phages are the natural regulators of the bacterial mass of the entire biosphere and belong, for example, to the components of the virome in the human microbiome. Wherever bacteria are undesirable, in human and veterinary medicine, in agriculture and food processing, bacteriophages can play an important role as “bacteria eaters”. The latter area of application is the only purely preventive one, whereas use in human medicine, for example, represents an alternative option and/or supplement to the use of antibiotics. Because of their host specificity, phages can be used in a targeted manner if the bacterial targets are known.
Bacteriophages can work effectively on antibiotic-resistant bacteria if they have been proven to match the germs, i.e. can lyse them effectively. This has to be assessed beforehand in various experiments in the laboratory, even if we cannot use this to predict the phage effect in the patient. A little more than 1,000 different bacteriophages are currently being researched and collected as part of the DSMZ phage collection. In the fall of 2022, the Leibniz Institute DSMZ-Deutsche Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH was the first scientific institute in Germany to receive GMP certification for the identity testing of phage investigational medicinal products for use in humans in accordance with Section 64 Paragraph 3f of the Medicines Act. The Leibniz Institute DSMZ can thus carry out DNA sequencing to identify phages in projects that are researching the therapeutic use of phages. The Leibniz Institute DSMZ has been dealing with bacteriophages for over 30 years. The phage researchers at the DSMZ have been involved in research projects for many years.
The Leibniz Institute DSMZ invites you to the journalists’ seminar on June 6, 2023. The Press and Communications department of the DSMZ is available for further information at press(at)dsmz.de.
The DSMZ is the largest bioresource center in the world. The collection currently includes over 82,000 bioresources.
company contact
Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures
PhDr. Sven-David Müller, M.Sc.
Inhoffenstraße 7 B
38124 Braunschweig
0531-5312616300
Press contact
Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures
Sven David Muller
Inhoffenstraße 7 B
38124 Braunschweig
0531-5312616300