Production and in vivo delivery of bacteriphage lytic enzymes by Lactobacillus fermentum for disease prevention.

Funding Activity

Website
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/290526

Funding Status
Closed

Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the .

Funded Activity Summary

Lactic acid bacteria are commonly found in the oral cavity, digestive and female urogenital tracts of humans and other mammals. They are almost completely harmless with only some streptococci and enterococci being able to cause disease. The harmless lactic acid bacteria are mainly classified as Lactobacillus or Lactococcus, and members of of these groups are used in the manufacture of dairy foods such as yoghurt and cheese. Lactobacilli in particular are marketed in a number of health-promoting or probiotic foodstuffs which are consumed all over the world. We are interested in developing lactobacilli into therapeutic agents which will prevent or treat infections caused by a range of harmful bacteria including the bacteria which cause strep throat and food poisoning. Lactobacilli will be genetically modified to produce enzymes which specifically kill harmful bacteria. These enzymes are from viruses which infect specific bacteria. Using animal models the modified lactobacilli or lactobacilli produced enzymes will be administered orally and tested for their ability to treat possible infections caused by pathogenic bacteria in the oral cavity and intestine. This new therapeutic production and delivery system offers an alternative infectious disease control method to antibiotics. This agent may also be used to control some of the antibiotic-resistant bacteria that are of significant worldwide concern.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2004

End Date: 01-01-2006

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $272,250.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Infectious Diseases

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

Bacteriophage lysin | Cell wall degradation | Infectious disease | Lactobacillus | Recombinant protein expression | Therapeutic protein | bacterial gastroenteritis | listeriosis | strep throat

Related Links