Eradicating Pseudomonas Biofilms through Synergistic Interaction of Manuka Honey and Bacteriophage PF7

Name: Emma Bossaert
Majors: Biology
Minor: Environmental Studies
Advisor: William Morgan

Bacterial biofilms are a major cause of chronic wound infections and are infamously resistant to antibiotic treatments. The ever-growing antibiotic resistance crisis has created a dire need for new treatments to combat polymicrobial biofilms. Bacteriophages and honey treatments are being revisited for differing antimicrobial properties against multi-resistant bacteria. These two antimicrobial agents working as a combined therapy has become a recent idea yet has only been applied to a limited range of pathogenic bacteria present in biofilms. This study aimed to determine whether the novel treatment of bacteriophage PF7 and manuka honey against biofilm formation can be applied to the resistant bacterial pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. There were two types of New Zealand manuka honeys used to determine whether the MGO (Methylglyoxal Content of Honey) influences the reduction of the biofilm. A crystal violet assay was used to quantify the amount of reduction in the biofilm between each of the treatment groups for both incubation periods: 24 and 48 hours. The 850+ MGO manuka honey sample resulted in the most effective treatment group in reducing the Pseudomonas biofilm compared to either combined therapy of the bacteriophage and manuka honey or the bacteriophage independently. The PF7 bacteriophage treatment showed the lowest antibiofilm efficacy. These results demonstrated that the combined therapy can be applied to another resistant bacterial strain present in biofilms. Due to its high efficacy against biofilm formation, manuka honey presents as a promising application for the eradication of biofilms against a range of resistant bacteria.

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Posted in Comments Enabled, Independent Study, Symposium 2022 on April 26, 2022.

One response to “Eradicating Pseudomonas Biofilms through Synergistic Interaction of Manuka Honey and Bacteriophage PF7”

1. Rosemary n Horner says:

   April 29, 2022 at 5:31 pm

   Nice work. Very interesting and helpful to the medical profession.