HHS funds project to mine microbiome for infection-fighting bacteria
HHS funds project to mine microbiome for infection-fighting bacteria
By Chris Dall
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is funding a new project that seeks to harness the power of the microbiome to fight bacterial infections and antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
The Pro/Prebiotic Regulation for Optimized Treatment and Eradication of Clinical Threats (PROTECT) project, funded through the Advanced Research Project Agency for Health (ARPAH), aims to develop a platform to identify and develop treatments based on beneficial bacteria and nutrients that can outcompete and suppress harmful bacteria and prevent infections before they take hold, spread, or become.
If we can keep people from becoming patients in the first place, we can reduce antibiotic usage and support the global work against AMR.
Renee Wegrzyn, PhD
“Imagine if we could unlock the microbiome’s potential to proactively fight infections,” ARPA-H Director Renee Wegrzyn, PhD, said in a press release. "If we can keep people from becoming patients in the first place, we can reduce antibiotic usage and support the global work against AMR."
The PROTECT project will begin with research, led by investigators at the University of California, Berkeley, into an at-home, inhalable treatment containing probiotics and prebiotics that can combat lung infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a highly resistant bacterium that causes severe infections in people with cystic fibrosis or pneumonia. The hope is that findings from this research can be used to develop a generalizable platform for producing treatments for other types of infections.
The project has a budget of up to $22.7 million.