This August, the twenty-third Evergreen International Phage Meeting was held at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, USA. The conference, held every two years, is one of the world's most important scientific events dedicated to bacteriophages. The founder and long-standing organizer of the conference is Evergreen State College professor Dr. Elizabeth Kütter, one of the world's most renowned experts on phages and phage therapy and a tireless promoter of bacterial viruses.

The conference discussed all aspects of scientific research and applied applications of bacteriophages.

Presentations were given by staff from the Eliava Institute of Bacteriophages (Georgia), a research institution that has, since its founding in 1923, continuously conducted research in phage therapy and the production of phage preparations—both mass-produced and customized—for the treatment of bacterial infections in individual patients. The institute's director, Mzia Kutateladze, discussed the treatment of patients with cystic fibrosis: each month, the institution treats 20-30 patients with this condition from around the world.

Belgian scientists shared their experience organizing phage therapy. This country has established a legislative procedure for providing patients with access to phage therapy. First, bacteriophage strains are thoroughly studied and entered into a "phage bank." Then, the necessary strains (active pharmaceutical ingredients, or APIs) are developed according to a monograph and their quality is tested in a specialized laboratory. These APIs can be prescribed by a physician either individually or in combination. Pharmacists in hospital pharmacies create the final phage preparations for specific patients according to a physician's prescription. After this, the phage preparation is ready for use. Phage therapy is becoming increasingly common in Belgium every year, but clinical trials of phage preparations remain a priority, as without them, this treatment method is not covered by health insurance.

Poster from the previous conference - 2017 Evergreen International Phage Meeting ( http://blogs.evergreen.edu/phage/about/meetings/2017-evergreen-meeting/ )

Australian doctors led by Jon Iredell shared their experience with phage therapy for sepsis and endocarditis. They noted that 14-day courses of treatment produced no side effects and significantly reduced bacterial loads in patients.

Dwayne Roach, from the newly established Center for Innovative Phage Applications and Therapeutics (IPATH) at the University of San Diego (California, USA), discussed IPATH's key focus on producing phage preparations for so-called "compassionate use." In the United States, phage preparations are not approved for medical use, so they are used only in severe cases where other treatments have proven ineffective. These are the cases that the IPATH laboratory focuses on.

The Evergreen conference also included the following topics for discussion:

- regulatory prospects for phage preparations in the USA and the requirements that the FDA places on developers of bacteriophage-based drugs,

- problems of creating phage preparations, phage cocktails,

- the need for further research into the interaction of phages with human cells, the immune system, and the body as a whole,

- features of the study of phages as components of the human intestinal microbiome,

- engineering of phages to improve their therapeutic, vaccine, and diagnostic properties,

- phages and biofilms,

- natural diversity of phages,

- molecular studies of phages (CRISPR, anti-CRISPR, modification of phage DNA, genome sequencing, etc.).

An important topic was the use of phages in agriculture, water management, and the food industry. Specifically, Jesca Nakavuma from the University of Uganda discussed efforts to reduce the use of antibiotics in livestock farming by replacing them with phage preparations. Specifically, trials of phage prophylaxis against bacterial diseases in tilapia have already begun.

Several presentations were devoted to phage taxonomy. A special highlight was the announcement of the discovery of a new genus of bacteriophage and its name, Kuttervirus, in honor of the legendary Elisabeth Kütter (pictured left).

Source : Sacher, J. (2019). Evergreen Phage 2019: Meeting Recap. Capsid & Tail, (44). Retrieved from https://phage.directory/capsid/evergreen-2019-recap