Citizen Phage Library: Hunting for Holes of Hope through Citizen Science

In this video presentation to budding Phage Hunters, Prof Ben Temperton explains about phage therapy and the importance of the Citizen Phage Library project.

Link to the video shown, demonstrating how quickly antibiotic resistance develops:    • The Evolution of Bacteria on a “Mega-...  

-- Chapters --
00:00 Introduction - Ben's research
00:47 Introduction to bacteria
02:18 We live in a microbial world
05:26 Antibiotic resistance develops rapidly in bacteria (video linked above)
08:33 How antibiotic resistance spreads in the environment
10:10 Multi-drug resistant bacteria ('superbugs')
11:44 Antimicrobial resistance: 3rd biggest killer after stroke and heart disease
12:31 Why don't we just make new antibiotics?
13:40 What did we do before antibiotics? (introducing phages)
14:25 How phage therapy developed
15:32 How are phages useful in treating bacterial infections?
19:24 Phages used as medicines (historical context)
20:13 Why did we stop using phages? (introducing penicillin: first antibiotic)
21:50 Story of Tom Patterson - treatment of acinetobacter baumannii infection with phages
23:46 Story of Isabelle Carnell-Holdaway - treatment of mycobacterium abscessus infection with phages (note: since the recording, we've been made aware that Isabelle sadly passed away in February 2022).
24:57 Where do phages come from (and how many are there - visualisation)
26:23 Where the Citizen Phage Library comes in
28:47 What happens with the samples in the lab
30:56 Number and locations of phages found so far
32:36 Case study - phages from the Citizen Phage Library helping patients
34:00 What happens next with samples: trying to help with a patient in Exeter and other countries, notified of phage discovery and naming your phage
37:06 Talk round-off