Bacteriophage (or phage) are viruses that specifically infect bacteria. Since they can kill bacteria, they are seen as an alternative way of treating bacterial infections that can't be cured using antibiotics; so called "phage therapy". This sounds like a simple idea, but moving this from the lab into clinical practice has proved to be difficult.
However there are other ways that these viruses can be put to good use and we have developed a way of using phage to find hard to detect bacteria - like the ones that cause TB. Using this approach we have developed a new diagnostic method that may finally help us tackle this global disease that affects every country in the world and kills more than 1 million people every year.
This lecture is part of our monthly science public lecture series. These events showcase research from scientists at the University of Nottingham and are free and open to all!