Sometimes viruses cause harmful infections, but students in the DNA Learning Center鈥檚 Urban Barcode Research Program identified a new virus that could help fight dangerous infections.
Viruses have a pretty bad reputation, but high schoolers Tony Valencia and Isabel Abonitalla are now determined to spread the idea that viruses can be our friends. They learned about the counterintuitive concept of using viruses to treat bacterial infection from their scientific mentor in the . Now, they see viruses as an indispensable tool in mitigating the looming crisis of antibiotic resistance鈥攖he inability of current medicines to treat certain infections.Like all students in the program, who presented their projects at a symposium in May, Valenica and Abonitalla used a technique known as DNA barcoding. This approach employs short, unique patterns or 鈥渂arcodes鈥� in DNA to identify living things. It鈥檚 a method similar to the barcode system that stores use to identify products.
Unlike the viruses that give us the flu and other infections, certain viruses known as bacteriophages, or simply phages, prey on bacteria. Phage therapy is a century-old idea that harnesses the bacteria-killing power of these viruses to clear up infections in humans.
Mentor Benjamin tenOever of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, with whom the program paired the students, helped Abonitalla and Valencia identify a new phage in which they see therapeutic potential for . But perhaps just as importantly, 鈥淏enjamin taught me that scientists are everyday people who do great things,鈥� says Valencia.
Phage therapy hasn鈥檛 caught on outside of Russia and a handful of other countries in part because giving viruses to patients is, understandably, an alarming idea for many people. But Valencia explains, 鈥渙nce we apply viruses to infections, they will only attack those infectious cells, because [phage] viruses are unique to one type of bacteria.鈥�
Find out how phages helped scientists determine that DNA is the genetic material.
Abonitalla and Valencia weren鈥檛 looking for phage therapy candidates when they started the project. tenOever initially suggested that they study the biodiversity of viruses in New York City, but the students鈥� interests quickly took the project in a new direction. Abonitalla remembers that 鈥淭ony and I stayed past the appointment because we had so many questions that weren鈥檛 necessarily related to the topic, but we were still allowed to explore those.鈥�
After a couple of discussions, they decided to search for a phage that affects yeast, because it may be possible to adapt such a virus for use as a therapeutic. They ended up testing the new phage that they identified through DNA barcoding on the bacteria known as 鈥渟taph鈥� and on monkey cells as well, since candidates for therapeutics must not harm the cells of humans, who are also in the primate family. They found that the phage slowed the growth of only the staph bacteria, which is known for causing resistant infections in people. Many more tests will be needed, however, to determine whether it can be developed into a targeted therapy.
It鈥檚 difficult to overstate how excited Abonitalla and Valencia are about their work. They agree that 鈥渃hanging the face of medicine鈥� is now 鈥渨hat we want to do.鈥� For Abonitalla, right now that means pursuing research, while Valencia is passionate about public health. He used to be focused on the political rather than scientific issues, in part because he admits that, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to go into a field where everyone is boring.鈥� But tenOever showed him that, 鈥渟cientists can be really cool,鈥� and that makes a big difference.