The phage whisperer…
While in Paris, Ailsa, Briony and I travelled out to the Institut Pasteur to meet with Dr. Laurent Debarbieux – an expert on Bacteriophages – that is, viruses that infect bacteria. Laurent works at the forefront of research into using bacteriophages to attack and destroy particularly difficult bacterial infections, such as cystic fibrosis infections in the lungs. And while the results have been promising, there is still much work to be done to determine whether bacteriophages can be used reliably to treat clinical infections. At the same time, scientists like Laurent also need to convince our medical and public health authorities to consider the possibilities of using viruses as allies against particularly nasty bacteria! But with the current crisis in antibiotics, the stakes couldn’t be higher!
We had an amazing session discussing bacteriophages with Laurent, hearing his perspectives about how bacteriophages can adapt to infect new host bacteria. In particular, we picked his brains about the scientific creation of our story’s viral hero...
