Designer bacteriophages targeting intracellular pathogens

Intracellular pathogens infect and multiply in human cells. Conventional antibiotics are of little help and particularly against dormant bacteria that are phenotypically tolerant to antibiotic treatments. Compounded by the looming “silent pandemic” of antimicrobial resistance, this challenge prompts the development of innovative approaches for delivering antimicrobial interventions inside human cells without cytotoxicity. This project will establish design principles for engineering bacteriophages with broad-spectrum antimicrobial activities through experimentation run at scale and high throughput. The student will explore AI-empowered de novo design and biology of bacteriophages to generate the new class of biologics able to selectively eradicate bacterial pathogens residing in human cells. The project is a partnership between KCL, NPL, IBM and the UK Health Security Agency. The student will work closely with all the partners including research stays and placements in the UK and overseas.