Phage’s Marcin Los shows how to unleash ‘bacteria’s worst nightmare’

Gdansk, Poland: – Bacteriophage expert Dr. Marcin Los, will show how to use phages as a more organic form of bacterial decontamination when he addresses the upcoming RAMC conference in San Francisco.

Dr. Los, founder and CEO of Polish-based Phage Consultants, will argue that the old adage “My enemy’s enemy is my friend” holds true when it comes to harnessing phages to combat bacterial contamination of processes.

Even though bacteriophages can themselves be contaminants, they can also play a potent role in killing bacteria threatening bioprocesses and industrial processes. For example, the lactic acid bacteria that can plague yeast fermentations can be eliminated though use of carefully selected phages that do not harm the fermentation.

Phages in antimicrobial control

Dr. Los will present his lecture “How to use bacteria’s worst nightmare to control them” during the session on Beneficial Microbes for Antimicrobial Controlon the morning of Day Three of the Recent Advances in Microbial Control Conference.

“Bacteria contaminate many types of bioprocesses,” explains Dr. Los.

“Usually,laboratories use antibiotics or chemicals to selectively eliminate some groups of bacteria. But in some cases there is a limited group of bacterial species contaminating the bioprocess. Yeast fermentations are especially vulnerable but other bioprocesses can also be easily contaminated,” said Dr. Los.

Cost effective alternative

“As the usual repeat offenders are just a few bacterial species, it is relatively easy to select phages that act against these contaminants,” he declared.

Dr. Los will use his addresss to show how bacteriophages can provide a more cost-effective solution than chemicals or antibiotics in safeguardng large-scale processes. He will present recent results and future prospects in this emerging field of antibacterial treatment of bioprocesses.

“Even small concentration of phages have proven successful in eradicating contaminating bacteria,” added Dr. Los.

About Phage Consultants

Bacteriophages (phages) are viruses that infect bacteria. First discovered around 1915, phages play an important role in viral biology, used to elucidate DNA viral reproduction through lytic and lysogenic cycles. They have been used for almost a century as alternatives to antibiotics and can have therapeutic effect against multi-drug-resistant strains of many bacteria.

Based in Poland, Phage Consultants is a contract research and manufacturing organization that specializes in bacteriophage characterization, production, infection and contamination control and assisting companies whose production is based on microbial activities in preventing phage, bacterial, fungal and viral contaminations.

Phage Consultants are specialists in the field of bacteriophage biology with specific expertise on phage activity in bioprocessing. Its team provides unique assistance to pharmaceutical and biotech companies, offering a range of services from personal training to consulting and process optimization in phage growth limitation. The company also advises and assists clients in the development of new production facilities.

About RAMC 2014

The Recent Advances in Microbial Control (RAMC) Conference is held in the fall of every second year. The 2012 previous meeting was held in Alexandra VA, while the 2014 event will take place November 9-12 at the Marriott Union Square center in downtown San Francisco.

RAMC provides researchers, industry leaders and regulators with a forum in which they can exchange latest developments in controlling microbial activity in industrial settings, as well as best practice solutions.

RAMC 2014 will follow a similar format to the 2012 meeting, with plenaries, posters and receptions to allow ample discussion and networking opportunities. Over the three and a half day event, there will be six speaker presentation sessions and an evening poster session.

Apart from the use of beneficial microbes for antimicrobial control, technical topics will also include food safety, industrial water safety, microbial detection, energy production issues and environmental threats.

More information at: http://simbhq.org/ramc/program/tuesday-morning/

Resources

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