Home Department: Undeclared
Mentor: Paul Bollyky (Medicine - Infectious Diseases and Microbiology & Immunology)

"Evaluating Hydrogel-Based Delivery of Phage-Antibiotic Cocktails for Chronic Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Wound Infections"

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa) bacteria commonly infect chronic wounds, contributing to thousands of deaths annually in the U.S. Because Pa exhibits extensive antibiotic resistance, standard antibiotics are insufficient, incentivizing therapy with bacteriophages: viruses that target bacteria. HydroPhage, a hydrogel-based delivery system, enables sustained phage delivery to chronic wounds, which require prolonged therapeutic exposure. Certain phages and antibiotics interact synergistically by complementing each other's mechanisms of action. This motivates the use of phage-antibiotic “cocktails”, though it’s unclear whether HydroPhage can release these. Rhys’ project will evaluate HydroPhage’s ability to co-release phages and antibiotics, and will optimize dosing to maximize bacterial killing.