Dr Evelien Adriaenssens, bacteriophage research group leader at the Quadram Institute, has helped inform a new UKRI Innovate UK report setting out how the UK could make much better use of bacteriophages or phage-based technologies to help tackle antimicrobial resistance and difficult to treat infections. Phages are viruses that kill bacteria but do not harm people.

The new report “Developing and delivering phage-based technologies in the UK” has just been published by the Innovate UK Phage Innovation Network.

Dr Evelien Adriaenssens said: “Phages offer a great deal of potential for use in clinical care when dealing with difficult to treat bacterial infections but there are significant barriers impeding progress in the UK. With the Phage Innovation Network, we identified UK-based strengths and weaknesses in phage research. Major barriers include a lack of GMP standard manufacturing facilities to make phage therapies, the need for a streamlined regulatory environment for their use in healthcare and in agrifood industries and the development of phage biobanks. None of these challenges are insurmountable and this report is a helpful step forward.”

The UK Food Safety Research Network (FSRN), hosted by the Quadram Institute, also contributed to the new phage report with input from Dr Matthew Gilmour and Dr Melissa Antoniou-Kourounioti.

Dr Matthew Gilmour said: “When we launched the FSRN network in 2022 we spoke with many food businesses to understand the food safety challenges that they felt would benefit from new solutions realised in partnership with UK researchers. One of the most common examples we heard from food producers and retailers was the prospect of using bacteriophage as a means of controlling pathogens that still find their way into the food chain.

Knowing there was both a strong interest and opportunity to use phages as a food safety intervention, we have been proud to partner with the Phage Innovation Network to help ensure this perspective from UK food businesses was part of their programming, alongside the considerations for applying phages for human and animal health.”

• The “Developing and delivering phage-based technologies in the UK” report, put together by the Innovate UK Phage Innovation Network (Phage IN), summarises the community’s perspective on the current capacity in different areas in the UK that could be used to support growth, the current limitations for the development and use of phage-based technologies (PBTs) in the UK, and a realistic future position for the UK to aim for.