时间：2024年1月4日（周四）14:00-15:30 

Time：2:00-3:30 PM, Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024

地点：西湖大学云谷校区E10-201阶梯教室

Venue: E10-201, Yungu Campus

主持人：西湖大学工学院 助理教授张岩岩

Host: Assistant Professor Yanyan Zhang, School of Engineering

主讲人/Speaker：

Pedro J.J. Alvarez

George R. Brown Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering ,Rice University

Member of the US National Academy of Engineering

Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering

ES&T executive editor

报告题目/Title:

A Renaissance for  Phage-Based Bacterial Control

讲座摘要/Abstract:

Bacteriophages (phages) are viruses that exclusively infect bacteria and utilize different life cycles to shape microbial communities through predation, transduction and reprogramming of bacterial metabolism. Phages are by far the most abundant, most diverse, and arguably the most underutilized biological resource in the biosphere. They offer opportunities for chemical-free bacterial control, which is attracting growing interest in environmental engineering due to concerns about the emergence of multidrug resistant bacteria and the need to mitigate toxicity from chemical disinfection byproducts.  Examples of phage applications discussed in this seminar include mitigating the spread of multi-drug resistant superbugs from wastewater treatment plants, phage conjugation with superparamagnetic nanoparticles to enhance biofilm penetration and de-anchoring from its root under a weak magnetic field, and encapsulation for smart release. We will also discuss how recent advances in DNA sequencing, ecological network modeling and synthetic biology may provide novel opportunities for phages as highly precise agents to edit microbiomes and modulate critical bacterial activities important for sustainable development.

讲座联系人/Contact:

科技合作部Sci-tech02@westlake.edu.cn