Phage Therapy

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an urgent global health challenge, with common bacterial infections becoming increasingly difficult to treat due to the growing ineffectiveness of antibiotics. This issue is particularly evident in urinary tract infections (UTIs), which affect millions of people worldwide each year. Many UTI-causing bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, have developed resistance to commonly used antibiotics, making these infections harder to treat and leading to complications like recurrent infections and severe illnesses such as urosepsis.

As traditional antibiotics lose their effectiveness, researchers are exploring alternative treatments like bacteriophage (phage) therapy. Bacteriophages are viruses that specifically target and destroy bacteria. While this approach has a long-standing history in Eastern Europe, it is now gaining momentum in Western Europe, such as Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland, as a potential solution to combat antibiotic-resistant infections. Early clinical cases show promising outcomes when phages are used, especially in patients who have not responded to antibiotics, although further research is needed to confirm their effectiveness and to make this therapy widely available.

Our research at Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich focuses on investigating the clinical utility of phage therapy for UTIs, with the goal of identifying the criteria and factors critical for effective and sustainable treatment. We have ongoing projects in preclinical testing, urinary microbiome, patient treatments and registries for phage therapy. As a highly translational group, we collaborate closely with experts in computational biology, bioengineering, bioinformatics, data science, diagnostics, and immunology to advance phage therapy in Switzerland and internationally and develop practical, impactful solutions to the challenge of AMR.

For general inquiries please contact phage@balgrist.ch.