If you look at the early Nobel Prizes in molecular biology, half of the awards went to researchers using phages, NIMH s Merril says. The work also helped researchers understand the shortcomings of phage therapy of the past. Some of the preparations were contaminated. On top of that, early researchers didn t realize that each phage type is highly specific for a given bacteria species, more finicky than Morris the cat. Back in the Baltimore lab, Chighladze painstakingly isolates phages from harbor water by culturing them with sundry strains of bacteria.
Modern technology can decipher which type of phage kills which type of bacteria.
For a broad spectrum assault, purified phages can then be combined in cocktails. Over time, bacteria naturally develop resistance to phages, as they do to antibiotic drugs. Drug resistance, however, has been accelerated by global misuse of antibiotics. Phages, in contrast, can adapt to keep up with the bacteria, matching their prey mutation for mutation. It s a biological arms race, explains Sulakvelidze, a former Georgian lab director who worked extensively with the Eliava Institute.