Ezra Ofer | 2025 I.S. Symposium

Name: Ezra Ofer
Title: Investigating the Efficiency of Bacteriophages to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance in Pseudomonas chlororaphis 14B11
Major: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Minor: Sociology
Advisors: Stephanie Strand; Anna Gallo

Despite antibiotics being used to treat bacterial infections in the United States for roughly a century, antimicrobial resistance is on the rise due to misuse and overuse of antibiotics. Therefore, new methods are needed to treat antimicrobial resistant (AMR) bacteria. One method is the use of bacteriophages, which are viruses that infect bacteria. Phages can potentially provide therapeutic properties as they can infect bacteria in vivo. One specific type of phage therapy is utilizing a bacterium’s evolution of phage resistance as a mechanism for decreasing its antibiotic resistance. Once a bacterium becomes resistant to phages, it could lead to increased antibiotic susceptibility and would allow antimicrobials to be more effective. In this study, the antibiotic susceptibility of Pseudomonas chlororaphis 14B11 was tested before and after phage infection. Phage-resistant strains treated with ampicillin showed a ~4-fold increase in antibiotic susceptibility, indicating there was a mutation made in the bacterial genome. Candidate genes for further study were identified, which were mexA, mexB, and oprM, as these may play a significant role in phage binding and adsorption. This study is important to gain more knowledge about bacteriophage therapy and the impact bacteriophages have on different species of bacteria.

Posted in Symposium 2025 on May 1, 2025.