BUFFALO, N.Y. — It is estimated that by 2050, 10 million people could die annually due to antimicrobial resistance, according to the CDC. Research is underway at the University at Buffalo to hopefully prevent this.

Phage therapy was discovered in the early 1900s. But it’s considered an experimental treatment. So what is it?

What You Need To Know

  • UB researchers are looking at phages to help combat antibiotic resistance

  • The team was recently awarded $3.6 million in federal funding to keep their pre-clinical research going for the next five years

  • It will be a few years before the study moves to a clinical setting

In a simulated setup for this story, this is the human body.

“This is a hollow fiber infection model,” Thomas Nguyen, a Pharm-D PhD student explained.”

Nguyen is one of several University at Buffalo pharmacy students working to combat the global issue of antibiotic resistance.

“You can kind of think of, you know, this bottle right here with, our liquid media, which is typically broth, as you know, a person's blood,” Nguyen showed.

The cartridge, he explains, holds the bacteria. It represents where an infection would be. They run it for seven days.

“For the first three days, we take a lot of samples, anywhere from like six to eight,” Nguyen explained.

He’s assisting Nick Smith, who’s an assistant professor of pharmacy practice at the University at Buffalo’s School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science. The team was recently awarded $3.6 million in federal funding to keep their pre-clinical research going for the next five years.

“But all the things we work on have, kind of, been a part of patient care at some point,” Smith said. “So all the phages, for example, that we're working on are ones that have been used in compassionate use cases.”

We should probably go back to what a phage is. 

“So, these are viruses that infect bacteria, which, I think at face value is something that could sound scary,” Smith smiled and said. “But really the problem with phages and why they haven't become therapeutics is because they're almost too specific.”

Smith and his team are working to make them broader. If successful, they can be used as an alternative to antibiotics. It’s been a decade in the making. Now they grow the phages. And they’re trying to find the magic number to make a difference.

“How much do we have to give patients? And we've right now found that based on the amount and the way that we can produce these phages, that it is in fact possible to give enough that the patients can achieve concentrations in their body that are therapeutic," Smith said.

Smith says they’re also looking at how to combine phages, and which cocktail works best. He adds there’s no need to panic, and that resistance is natural.

“It's a global problem because it spreads,” Smith said. “So, you know, things that happen in one part of the road can very easily come and affect us here. And being prepared is our best tool.”

This is a national study. UB is working with a team of scientists at the University of San Diego. There’s a lot to figure out before they test anything on people. Then those clinical studies could take three to seven years.