Dressing harnesses viruses to combat bacterial infection

The prototype dressing is the first in a line of antimicrobial products from Fixed Phage that will harness the power of bacteriophages, the naturally occurring viruses that are non-toxic to humans, animals and plants but which can destroy bacteria. Fixed Phage’s bacteriophages will be used to tackle resistant infections such as MRSA and certain tuberculosis strains.

Dr Mike Mattey, honorary lecturer at Strathclyde and chief scientific officer of Fixed Phage, said: ‘If you imagine them as little hypodermic syringes which inject the cell — it’s a nanotechnology, but a natural one. One bacteriophage will infect one bacterium, which then produces 50 more bacteriophages that will infect 50 bacteria and so on.

‘It’s very different to conventional treatment in terms of pharmacodynamics. The more bacteria there are to kill, the better it works.’

Initial development of the technology and prototype was funded through the former Synergy Fund, owned by Strathclyde and the University of Glasgow, and through Scottish Enterprise’s Proof of Concept Programme.