Viruses join fight against harmful bacteria
In the hunt for new ways to kill harmful bacteria, scientists have turned to a natural predator: viruses that infect bacteria. By tweaking the genomes of these viruses, known as bacteriophages, researchers hope to customize them to target any type of pathogenic bacteria. To help achieve that goal, MIT biological engineers have devised a new mix-and-match system to genetically engineer viruses that target specific bacteria. This approach could generate new weapons against bacteria for which there are no effective antibiotics, says Timothy Lu, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science and biological engineering. “These bacteriophages are designed in a way that’s relatively modular. You can take genes and swap them in and out and get a functional phage that has new properties,” says Lu, the senior author of a paper describing this work in the Sept. 23 edition of the journal Cell Systems. These bacteriophages could also be used to “edit”...