Attacking biofilms with engineered viruses

[Guest guest]

http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=18998

Boston U researchers say viruses can be engineered to attack ONLY a

particular bacteria species and their associated " biofilm matrix " .

Yeah, right. This sounds a lot like the idea that plant seeds can be

engineered and the resulting foods grown without disturbing the

environment. Still, maybe it holds some promise.

--Bob

[Guest guest]

Engineering the virus to encode film-polymer-degrading enzymes is

pretty damn slick. If they are still in glass with this, there may be

some question as to whether the enzyme will work equally well in vivo.

I've been watching for DG Davies' big breakthrough publication to come

out ever since my class project on biofilm dispersion. Where is that guy?

> http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=18998

>

> Boston U researchers say viruses can be engineered to attack ONLY a

> particular bacteria species and their associated " biofilm matrix " .

> Yeah, right. This sounds a lot like the idea that plant seeds can be

> engineered and the resulting foods grown without disturbing the

> environment. Still, maybe it holds some promise.

>

> --Bob

>

[Guest guest]

Sounds like macrophages with a twist. Pehaps to make patents possible? Oh please tell me they're moving quickly on this. At this point, the risk wouldn't scare me at all. If they sold the stuff only as Drano, I wouldn't care. I'd put it up my nose in a heartbeat. This could have so many applications. Just imagine what it would do to the field of dentistry. Not sure if dentists would like it, but it could be responsible for a big reduction in cavities and also increase the success rate of implants. It would also be a big boon to joint replacement surgeons. And if they're truly safe, there'd probably be a large and unexpected (to the medical community) drop in chronic illness. Thank you, Bob. This is a very encouraging article and good to know there are companies investigating the

possibilities. penny Bob Grommes <bob@...> wrote: http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=18998Boston U researchers say viruses can be engineered to attack ONLY a particular bacteria species and their associated "biofilm matrix". Yeah, right. This sounds a lot like the idea that plant seeds can be engineered and the resulting foods grown

without disturbing the environment. Still, maybe it holds some promise.--Bob