Monash scientist receives $500,000 USD to investigate phage-immune interaction
Congratulations to Associate Professor Jeremy Barr from the Monash University School of Biological Sciences on being awarded $500,000 USD from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support ground-breaking research aimed at discovering how bacteriophages, the viruses that infect bacteria, could prime human immunity and impact health.
The research project seeks to unravel the complex relationships between phages and the human immune system.
With a particular focus on identifying viral species that mediate phage-mammalian symbioses, the research will explore the cellular mechanisms involved in these interactions.
“The findings could have profound implications for understanding how our bodies respond to viral threats and could pave the way for new therapeutic approaches to inflammatory and infectious diseases,” Associate Professor Barr said.
The research project is divided into two main areas. The first is to understand how human cells respond to bacteriophages. The research will quantify how phages are internalised, persist, and are trafficked within human cells. By employing advanced techniques such as transcriptomics, metabolomics, and microscopy, the research team will study the broader physiological changes triggered by phages in human cells. This research will also explore how phages can mediate the killing of intracellular bacterial pathogens, potentially offering new ways to combat bacterial infections.
The second area of focus will be on how viral nucleic acids within phages may mediate inflammatory responses. The team will investigate how human cells process and degrade phages and how the viral DNA is sensed by the immune system, triggering innate immune responses.
“By examining phages with known DNA modifications, we hope to identify viral signatures that are recognised as potential threats by the immune system,” Associate Professor Barr said.
“This could lead to the identification of new drug targets to modulate these interactions and potentially treat inflammatory diseases.”
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