Team:Munich
Traditional Method
Diagnosis
Next generation diagnostic systems like SHERLOCK can identify pathogens with high precision and accuracy. This enables rapid identification of an individualized therapeutic strategy even in the case of multiresistant superbugs. Using Phactory, we overcome the last remaining obstacles for an efficient bacteriophage therapy.
Phage Library Selection
By using a cell-free production system, we utilize one of the most revolutionary concepts of synthetic biology to produce therapeutic bacteriophages. Based on a personalized diagnosis, bacteriophage DNA is chosen from a library and is subjected to extensive quality assessment procedures to ensure a safe and effective application.
homogeneous
Because our raw material is DNA, phage therapy based on well-defined phages is no longer a fantasy.
software-aided
State of the art DNA sequencing tools are combined with bioinformatics to precisely determine the amount of contaminants in a sample.
high quality
The phage genome DNA is produced using extensive purification protocols, resulting in high quality raw materials with minimal contamination.
Synthetic Phage Manufacturing
Production of our bacteriophages in a cell-free system ensures a fast and dependable application. Furthermore, working in a cell-free environment enables host independent production of phages in only 2.5% of the traditional production volume while demanding no biosafety regulations.
affordable
Below $10 per treatment, Phactory has a very competitive market value.
scalable
Manufacturing in Phactory can be scaled up for mass production.
modular
Phactory is an open system. This allows for the incorporation of modified proteins while leaving the genome unmodified, thereby achieving modularity without genetic modifications.
safe
Host independence eliminates the need to cultivate pathogens to produce bacteriophages.
Quality Control
Extensive quality controls are employed to make sure that the produced bacteriophages are pure and effective. Potential complications due to toxins and contaminants are eliminated.
pure
Purity is essential for any therapeutic application. We use next-generation sequencing to ensure the absence of any contaminating DNA in the manufacturing process.
toxin-free
Phactory assembles phages outside of living cells and is therefore free of most biological contaminants. We engineered it to reduce immunogenicity in humans by five orders of magnitude.
GMO-free
The phages assembled by Phactory are purified to remove any genetically modified material before ever leaving a controlled lab environment.
Packaging
Bacteriophage therapy covers a broad range of potential applications. We engineered custom hardware to package bacteriophages for oral treatment. Our packaging procedure is the last step of a personalized on-site treatment process.
long shelf-life
Phactory and phages are fragile components. We combined various techniques to enable phage assembly outside of a lab.
portable
We demonstrated lyophilization of Phactory components in order to enable long range transport.
on-site
Producing phages in Phactory is so easy that it allows any doctor to apply phage therapy on-site.
Therapy
Our bacteriophages are now ready for therapy. Phactory is fast and reliable enough to be an oral bedside application.
cooperation
We were able to produce genetically modified phages we received from the iGEM Team in Grenoble.
integrated human practice
We reached out to local doctors to demonstrate just how easy bacteriophage therapy using Phactory is and to gain valuable input for our project.
ready
In cooperation with phage therapy pioneers in Belgium, we safely produced functional phages against EHEC – a severe intestinal infection.
Human Practices
To get an overview of how serious bacterial resistance really is, we visited the university hospital Rechts der Isar of the Technical University of Munich to meet Dr. Friedemann Gebhardt, the head of the hygiene department. Following his suggestions, we integrated Storage Protocols into Phactory.
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Entrepreneurship
We set a timeline, which experiments will be done by us in the future. Taking the disruptive potential of Phactory in to account, we evaluated the penetrable Market of Phactory. Parts of our project are patent-pending.
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Sequ-Into
Our Application combines powerful bioinformatic algorythms with third generation sequencing techniques allowing us to reach DNA purity levels of up to 96%.
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