Tuesday, May 16, 2006   9:15 am - 5:00 pm

Birkbeck College  Basement Lecture Theatre   43 Gordon Square   London,   WC1H 0PD   United Kingdom  Click here for more information

Meeting Highlights

The nature and uses of phage in fundamental biology research, biotechnology and medicine Professor George Salmond - Cambridge University

This talk will set the background for the meeting and will provide a general introduction to the nature, abundance and diversity of phages. The talk will discuss the importance of phages as drivers of host adaptive evolution and will outline the historical role that phages have played in enabling our understanding of fundamental biological processes. The exploitation of phages for genetic analysis of their bacterial hosts, for biotechnology, for diagnostics, and for medical applications (including phage therapy) will be introduced to set the scene for the following talks at the meeting.

Exploiting phages for production of vaccines Dr John March – Moredun Research Institute
Bacteriophages have a number of potential applications in the biotechnology industry- delivery vehicles for protein and DNA vaccines, for gene therapy, as alternatives to antibiotics, and as protein/antibody library screening tools. This diversity and ease of manipulation and production means they have potential research, therapeutic and manufacturing uses in both the biotechnology and medical fields. It is hoped that the wide range of scientists, clinicians and biotechnologists currently researching or putting bacteriophages to practical use are able to pool their knowledge and expertise and thereby accelerate progress towards further development in this exciting field of biotechnology.

Bacteriophage genomes, pathogenicity islands, phage conversion and evolution Dr Nicholas Thomson, Sanger Institute, Cambridge.

Whole genome sequencing has brought phage biology back into the limelight and provided us with an unprecedented insight into the genomic architecture and evolution of bacterial pathogens. Bacterial genomes are ‘peppered’ with prophage or phage-like elements which not only contribute to the overall sequence diversity, but also have a significant influence on the pathogenic potential of the host bacterium. Perhaps the most important observation made from genome sequencing is not the mere presence of phage but the number and diversity of phage that have been discovered. Even though we are still only scratching the surface it is clear that phage biology is once again recognised as being fundamental to our understanding of long and short term bacterial evolution.  An overview of the contribution of phage to pathogenomics will be presented.

The Role of STX-Phages In The Survival and Dissemination of Virulence Genes and The Emergence of New Pathogens

Dr Heather Allison - University of Liverpool
Bacteriophages are more than mere pathogens of their bacterial host.  Temperate phage infections can bring about genotypic and phenotypic changes that often results in a change to the pathogenic profile of the bacterium.  In the case of E. coli strains like O157:H7, phage infection can lead to the emergence of deadly human pathogens.   The Stx-phages responsible for the creation and emergence of this notorious pathogen and others like it belong to a very heterogeneous group.  Research on the mechanisms behind the toxigenic conversion mediated by these phages has revealed many novel aspects of their biology.

Phage therapy: the Phico Therapeutics technology Dr Heather Fairhead, CEO Phico Therapeutics Ltd , Babraham, Cambridge

Immobilised phages as therapeutic agents
Dr Mike Mattey , University of Strathclyde
Immobilisation of bacteriophages enhances their stability, particularly to dehydration. This can be exploited in a number of applications both therapeutic and non-clinical. A preliminary report of two animal trials involving immobilised bacteriophages against MRSA will be presented, one a systemic infection models, the other a wound model and the current status of detection and decontamination projects will also be discussed.

Rapid detection and identification of viable Mycobacteria using a combined phage-PCR assay

Dr Cath Rees, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, UK

How to develop an effective vaccine against cholera

Dr Masahiko Ehara - Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University

I have been working on the development of an effective vaccine against cholera. For this purpose, I analyzed the phase variation of Vibrio cholerae O1 to get a fimbriate strain.

In 1992, 13 strains of Vibrio cholerae O139 were sent to me by Dr. John Albert, ICDDR, B to examine the cell surface appendage (fimbeiae, pili).

Involvement of a phage excisionase into bacterial metabolism regulation

Dr Mireille Ansaldi, Laboratoire de Chimie Bactérienne CNRS-Marseille

The TorI protein, encoded by the KplE1 prophage, has been first identified as a response regulator inhibitor. Indeed, TorI prevents the torCAD operon expression, which encodes the main TMAO reductase in E. coli, by interacting with the TorR response regulator. Doing so, TorI prevents the RNA polymerase recruitment to the tor promoter. Recently, using structural and genetic approaches, we showed that TorI is also the excisionase responsible for the KplE1 prophage excision together with the IntS integrase.

Phage therapy - the Novolytics technology