Using Viruses to Fight Antibiotic-Resistant Infections | Benjamin Chan | Big Think

Using Viruses to Fight Antibiotic-Resistant Infections, with Benjamin Chan
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Ben is a Yale researcher collecting bacteriophages (bacteria-destroying viruses) in hopes of treating superbugs. Paige is a cystic fibrosis patient in Texas with an antibiotic-resistant pseudomonas infection which has further reduced her already limited lung capacity, and Ben's therapy is her last resort.
While superbugs have evolved resistance to our most powerful antibiotics, the phages Ben has found in water samples around the world could be capable of knocking them out.

In this documentary, we follow Ben as he travels from his laboratory in New Haven to Lubbock, Texas to deliver the treatment - and meet Paige as she shows us what life is like before and after this experimental phage therapy.

This episode was originally created and shared by Freethink.

Read the video transcript: https://bigthink.com/videos/using-viruses-as-medicine

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About Benjamin Chan:
Benjamin Chan is currently an Associate Research Scientist in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University in the Laboratory of Professor (and all-around awesome dude) Paul Turner. His research includes the development and creation of Virulence Targeting Antibiotics (VTA's) and Resistance Targeting Antibiotics (RTA's) for the treatment of bacterial infections refractory to traditional antibiotic therapy. His work spans the entire 'bench to bedside' spectrum where he has successfully isolated, characterized, and used bacteriophage-based V/RTA's to treat several infections.

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Read more of our stories on alternative medicine:
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