Phages for treating pathogenic bacteria

I have been deeply worried about antibiotic resistance for ages. Last night, Paul Turner’s Martin Lecture on leveraging evolutionary trade-offs for phage therapy was very encouraging.

Professor Turner, who is Rachel Carson Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale, provided a fascinating account of how bacteriophages (viruses that attack bacteria) can be used in synergy with antibiotic drugs to avoid the development of drug resistance.

His Martin Lecture doesn’t have a public recording, but he suggested his TEDx talk for people interested in the subject. Though he was not featured in it, he also recommended the documentary “The Good Virus”.

Author: Milan

In the spring of 2005, I graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in International Relations and a general focus in the area of environmental politics. Between 2005 and 2007 I completed an M.Phil in IR at Wadham College, Oxford. I worked for five years for the Canadian federal government, including completing the Accelerated Economist Training Program, and then completed a PhD in Political Science at the University of Toronto in 2023. View all posts by Milan