The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CF Foundation) supported 33 projects totaling approximately $15 million aimed at improving diagnostic and treatment methods for cystic fibrosis. Three winning projects focused on phage therapy for antibiotic-resistant chronic infections in patients with cystic fibrosis.

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is arguably the world's largest funder of research aimed at improving the quality of life and prognosis of patients with cystic fibrosis. By 2023, the Foundation plans to invest $100 million in research projects that will help combat chronic infectious diseases in patients with cystic fibrosis.

Cystic fibrosis is a hereditary disease characterized by mucus accumulation in the respiratory tract, which, in turn, creates conditions favorable for bacterial growth. As a result, patients often suffer from chronic lung infections that may not respond to traditional antibiotics, impair lung function, and lead to death. According to the Foundation, chronic bacterial complications affect approximately 60% of young patients with cystic fibrosis and up to 80% of older patients.

Read also: Phages against Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis

Long-term use of antibiotics, which is necessary to treat lung infections in cystic fibrosis, is associated with various side effects, such as hearing loss, and over time also leads to the development of resistance in pathogens to the drugs used.

The projects supported by the Foundation this time can be roughly divided into three categories: infection diagnostics; combating antibiotic-resistant pathogens; and combating difficult-to-treat bacterial infections. The second category includes research projects focused on the use of bacteriophages in the treatment of infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

One of the three "phage" projects studies bacteriophages that infect antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria of the genus Pseudomonas ; the second project studies genetically modified bacteriophages specific to various species of the genus Burkholderia ; the third project aims to create a library of bacteriophages that infect all currently known strains of bacteria of the genus Burkholderia .

Read also about how the seasonal and daily dynamics of the population of the pathogenic bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei in the natural environment largely depends on the bacteriophage in

Other projects that the Foundation plans to finance focus on infections caused by non-tuberculous mycobacteria, fungi, and other pathogens.