PhageCast

News and interviews on the phage field.

We will give you a merge between novel phage research and the personal experiences of people in the field. Learn phage science and how to navigate your careers, your life and do research! Brought to you by David Sáez, Maria Sequeira Lopes and Alexandre Lima. Enjoy the show! For comments and inquiries reach out to phagecast@gmail.com

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    29.- Jeremy Barr: Temperate Phage Activity in the Gut Microbiome

    In this episode, we speak with Prof. Jeremy Barr, Professor at Monash University, about his work on bacteriophages in the human gut and the ecological and functional roles of temperate phages within the microbiome. We discuss his recent study Isolation, engineering and ecology of temperate phages from the human gut, focusing on prophages in gut bacteria and how frequently they may enter the lytic cycle. We cover the experimental approaches used to isolate and characterize temperate phages from gut bacteria, including induction, bacterial and human cells. We speak about environmental factors that may influence prophage induction, including dietary compounds, and how epithelial perturbation during inflammation can shape gut virome dynamics. We then explore evolutionary and genomic aspects of gut temperate phages, including the presence of prophages lacking integrases, the role of diversity-generating retroelements (DGRs), and possible evolutionary trajectories toward prophage domestication. We also discuss polylysogeny and whether temperate phages may serve as stable platforms for gene delivery in microbiome-associated contexts. Finally, Jeremy shares reflections on the process of publishing the study in Nature, including how the manuscript evolved during peer review, and lessons learned during the revision process. Do not forget that Viruses of Microbes is still accepting inscriptions and will take place in Prague from 6-10 July 2026.

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    27.- Martha Clokie: tackling C. difficile, Salmonella, and the path to phage products in the UK

    In this episode, we talk with Professor Martha Clokie, Professor at the University of Leicester and Director of the new Becky Mayer Centre for Phage Research. She explains her work leading the Centre and its mission under a One Health framework. We discuss why phage applications in animals—such as poultry —often progress faster than in humans, the regulatory path for veterinary products and the current status of phage therapy in the UK, what recent conversations with regulators have clarified, whether any patients have been treated, and how close the country is to seeing approved phage products. She then dives into her research on Clostridioides difficile, explaining why no strictly lytic phages have been identified to date, how endolysins fit into the picture, and the possible role of phages in the success of FMT therapies. Martha closes with insights from her career and advice for early-stage researchers entering the phage field. PhageCast 2025 is sponsored by PrecisionPhage: ⁠www.precisionphage.com ⁠⁠www.phagenomics.net⁠ Contact PrecisionPhage on LinkedIn!  PrecisionPhage is a Finland-based phage biotech, providing services worldwide:  🔹phage laboratory R&D services such as on-demand phage isolation  🔹licensing of bacteriophages against WHO priority pathogens  🔹ready-to-use and custom-made bioinformatics software for phage and host genome analysis.  Are you new to phage genome assembly and functional analysis, and would you like to be able to get them done using the latest methods but without the burden of coding or manual work?  PrecisionPhage welcomes you to get familiar with Phagenomics! Phagenomics is a web-based software providing automated phage genome assembly, annotation & analysis, as well as comparative genomics. The tool bundles phage bioinformatics in a user-friendly online platform, performing the work of a seasoned phage bioinformatician in an automated manner. Phagenomics is developed in-house by PrecisionPhage.  Try Phagenomics for free at ⁠www.phagenomics.net⁠ and sign up for a pro subscription trial.

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    25.- Rafael Pinilla Redondo: CRISPRs, Anti-CRISPRs, and Beyond.

    In today’s episode we interview Rafael Pinilla-Redondo, Group Leader of the Bacterial Immunity research group at the Section of Microbiology, University of Copenhagen. We start the conversation with an overview of his research, he tells us how his team looks into the interplay between phages and bacterial defense systems. We also talk about the different approaches to uncover and characterize bacterial immunity, from bioinformatic predictions to experimental phage–bacteria interactions, insights into CRISPR-Cas systems—particularly Type IV CRISPRs, CRISPRi systems and their counter-defenses like RNA-based anti-CRISPRs. The current big questions in bacterial immunity and what impacts this research could have on biotechnology and translational applications. Finally, Rafael shares his personal journey into the phage field, what excites him most about current research, his reflections on setbacks that turned into opportunities, and his advice for PhD students and early-career researchers. PhageCast 2025 is sponsored by PrecisionPhage: ⁠www.precisionphage.com ⁠⁠www.phagenomics.net⁠ Contact PrecisionPhage on LinkedIn!  PrecisionPhage is a Finland-based phage biotech, providing services worldwide:  🔹phage laboratory R&D services such as on-demand phage isolation  🔹licensing of bacteriophages against WHO priority pathogens  🔹ready-to-use and custom-made bioinformatics software for phage and host genome analysis.  Are you new to phage genome assembly and functional analysis, and would you like to be able to get them done using the latest methods but without the burden of coding or manual work?  PrecisionPhage welcomes you to get familiar with Phagenomics! Phagenomics is a web-based software providing automated phage genome assembly, annotation & analysis, as well as comparative genomics. The tool bundles phage bioinformatics in a user-friendly online platform, performing the work of a seasoned phage bioinformatician in an automated manner. Phagenomics is developed in-house by PrecisionPhage.  Try Phagenomics for free at ⁠www.phagenomics.net⁠ and sign up for a pro subscription trial.

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    24.- Grégory Resch: phage-antibiotic combinations against endocarditis

    In today´s episode we interview Greg Resch, Senior Lecturer and Head of the laboratory of bacteriophages at the Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), and PI in the NCCR Microbiomes. We started the conversation asking about the latest results regarding the detection of single phage lysis using microfluidics. We also cover in this episode: - Some of his work with phage-antibiotic combinations against infective endocarditis, targeting staphylococcus aureus. - The effect of different antibiotics and phages in MSSA or MRSA strains from their studies, we cover how they also studied phage resistance of several bacteria recovered from those treatments... - Many more details on how glycosylation and its regulation affect phage susceptibility. Finally we also talk about regulations of phage therapy in Switzerland and Greg gave us an impressive overview of his career and gave some interesting tips and suggestions for people starting in the phage field. PhageCast 2025 is sponsored by PrecisionPhage: ⁠www.precisionphage.com ⁠⁠www.phagenomics.net⁠ Contact PrecisionPhage on LinkedIn!  PrecisionPhage is a Finland-based phage biotech, providing services worldwide:  🔹phage laboratory R&D services such as on-demand phage isolation  🔹licensing of bacteriophages against WHO priority pathogens  🔹ready-to-use and custom-made bioinformatics software for phage and host genome analysis.  Are you new to phage genome assembly and functional analysis, and would you like to be able to get them done using the latest methods but without the burden of coding or manual work?  PrecisionPhage welcomes you to get familiar with Phagenomics! Phagenomics is a web-based software providing automated phage genome assembly, annotation & analysis, as well as comparative genomics. The tool bundles phage bioinformatics in a user-friendly online platform, performing the work of a seasoned phage bioinformatician in an automated manner. Phagenomics is developed in-house by PrecisionPhage.  Try Phagenomics for free at ⁠www.phagenomics.net⁠ and sign up for a pro subscription trial.

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We will give you a merge between novel phage research and the personal experiences of people in the field. Learn phage science and how to navigate your careers, your life and do research! Brought to you by David Sáez, Maria Sequeira Lopes and Alexandre Lima. Enjoy the show! For comments and inquiries reach out to phagecast@gmail.com