Scientists are building viruses from scratch to fight superbugs

Researchers from New England Biolabs and Yale University have reported the first fully synthetic system for engineering bacteriophages that target Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The antibiotic resistant bacterium poses a serious worldwide risk. The approach is described in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The system uses the High Complexity Golden Gate Assembly platform developed This method allows the genome to be assembled outside the cell using synthetic DNA. The completed genome is then introduced into a safe laboratory strain where it becomes an active bacteriophage. The technique avoids many obstacles associated with traditional phage research that depend on physical samples and specialized host bacteria. Andy Sikkema, co first