Two Thomasian scientists are joining forces to find a possible alternative therapy to multidrug resistance. With funding from the Virology and Vaccine Institute of the Philippines and support from the Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST – PCHRD), Drs. Donna May D.C. Papa (Department of Biological Sciences – College of Science) and Maria Rhona Gatpandan-Bergantin (Faculty of Medicine and Surgery) are working on a three-year project targeting infections of multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumanni.聽
Dr. Papa, who leads the three-year project which began in July 2024, said that the project aims to 鈥渋solate bacteriophages infecting various clinical strains of A. baumanni collected from different hospitals and to produce a working prototype of phage formulation鈥攃omposed of characterized bacteriophages that show high viability for therapeutic use.鈥� In particular, the study aims at potential intravenous administration of the treatment using bacteriophages, which are a group of viruses aimed at targeting bacteria.
So far, the team has collaborated with ARSP sentinel sites and tertiary hospitals to collect water samples and doing enrichment set-ups and testing the filtrates. The team also procured necessary equipment, which will be transferred soon to the UST-Dr. Tony Tan Caktiong Innovation Center in Santa Rosa, Laguna.
