Regulation of Gut Health by Phage Infection

Corinne Maurice of McGill University in Canada will use an ecological approach to determine whether bacteriophage (phage), which are viruses that infect bacteria, could be used to restore healthy microbial communities in the gut and thereby reduce stunting in children. They will collect stool samples from infants under two years old from Bangladesh, and compare the types of phage and bacteria found in stunted versus healthy children. Phage from healthy children will be used to infect bacteria from stunted children, and vice versa, to analyze how specific phage affect gut microbes under different conditions, which will demonstrate their potential for treating disease.