Michaël Tadesse

It has been a surprisingly quick 4 years, which culminated in passing my PhD viva today! Thank you to my supervisors Antonia @antoniasagona.bsky.social, Fabrizio @albertilab.bsky.social and my lab mates for their support. And to Lona and Andy for being my examiners.

One-Two Punch: Phage-Antibiotic Synergy Observed against Staphylococcus aureus by Combining Pleurotin and Phage K The surge in antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections has been deemed a major public health concern. There is an urgent need for novel antimicrobial therapies, chemical and nonantibiotic. The basidiomycota-derived, secondary metabolite pleurotin has been shown to be effective against Gram-positive bacteria, while bacteriophages could be the ultimate nonantibiotic alternative. In this study, the combination of pleurotin and phage K targeting S. aureus was examined. Pleurotin was isolated from the basidiomycota fungus Hohenbuehelia grisea. The cytotoxicity of pleurotin was assessed in two human cell lines in comparison to pleuromutilin, vancomycin, and phage K. The antibiotics were then tested independently or in combination with phage K against two S. aureus strains. Cytotoxicity of pleurotin in human cells was comparable to vancomycin and pleuromutilin. Results suggest that adding phage K has a synergistic effect and can lower the MIC for pleurotin, pleuromutilin, and vancomycin. This demonstrates that pleurotin could be a viable antistaphylococcal drug.

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
New paper from the lab! Thanks to Fabrizio Alberti and his lab for the great collaboration and to Michael Tadesse for all his hard work!! Thanks @warwicklifesci.bsky.social, MIBTP and BBSRC for funding!