Superfast Photonic detection of Phage Lysis – SUPPLY

Multidrug bacteria resistance is spreading fast and, in the absence of new approaches, 10 million victims per year are envisioned by 2050. Phage therapy, i.e. the therapeutic use of bacterial viruses called bacterio(phages), is currently strongly investigated for its potential to stop bacteria whenever antibiotics are no longer effective. However, a personalized approach is largely awaited mainly because of the narrow specificity of phages and stability issues with complex pre-assembled phage cocktails. Such a personalized strategy requires a deep-understanding of the phage-bacteria interaction as well as the capacity to quickly select the right phage(s) for the right patient. In this context, SUPPLY aims at developing a disruptive interdisciplinary methodology based on biophotonic microsystems for the deep study of phage-bacteria interactions. A first goal of SUPPLY is to develop optical microresonators for the nondestructive trapping of bacteria and phages for fine characterization of the interaction of phages with a single bacterium. Such experiments yield the great potential of superfast photonic detection of bacterial lysis by phages, by bringing new insights into fundamentals of phage-bacteria interactions and their photonic signatures. Consequently, a second goal is to provide breakthrough tools for quick phage bank screening to select the most active phages, paving the road to the application of a new technology able to reduce the time needed to select the right phage(s) for the patients. In a third goal, SUPPLY aims to initiate single-phage biophysics, i.e phage-bacteria interaction studies at the single-phage level. Therefore, SUPPLY will contribute to support phage therapy implementation by providing microbiologists and physicians with a new tool to therapeutic success. SUPPLY gathers a multidisciplinary consortium of highly complementary expert teams in the fields of phage biology and therapy (CHUV, Lausanne & CEA-LETI-DTBS, Grenoble), photonics and optical instrumentation (EPFL, Lausanne & CEA-IRIG, Grenoble) and micro-nanofabrication (LTM-CNRS hosted by CEA-LETI, Grenoble).