Trailfinder CF Innovation Hub

phages installation for the British Science Festival

Visitors to our #BritishScienceFestival stand created their own phage drawings which were then converted into AR models. These were used to target bacteria in a prototype of our AR phage game. Developed with Feed AR & @salforduni.bsky.social #worldphageweek
vimeo.com/1118883403?s...

On the final day of #WorldPhageWeek we reflect on our summer #Phage Bootcamp, led by University of Exeter's Michelle Michelson, Ben Temperton and Christian Finch, who also run @citizenphage.bsky.social. An amazing learning experience, and a great opportunity to bring members of the team together.

Part 1 of a poem by a visitor, it reads: I am a happy bacterium But now on my skin I feel the tiny touches Of something fearful Trying to come in Oh help! I cry What will become of me? I'm defenceless, and this phage wants its tea!

Part 2 of poem by visitor, it reads: But WHY am I defenceless still? Do I exist only so phages can kill? Surely my armour can soon improve, And my sword can soon these phages remove!

Drawing by visitor of phages and a bacterium

Drawing by visitor of a phage

This #WorldPhageWeek, we are looking back to the #BritishScienceFestival and some of the brilliant phage drawings, comments, and poems created by visitors to our stand. A collab between @liverpooluni.bsky.social and @salforduni.bsky.social. Festival run by @britsciassoc.bsky.social

Where can #phages be found? The answer is everywhere! We are working closely with @citizenphage.bsky.social asking the public to help us find new phages by collecting water samples. Find out more about becoming a phage hunter at www.citizenphage.com #worldphageweek #phagetherapy

Today is #WorldPhageDay! One of our key aims is to advance #phagetherapy, which uses natural viruses called #phage to target bacteria instead of antibiotics. We are working to develop new phage combinations, test the best way of giving them, and ensure the UK can produce phage at medical standards.

Group of staff and visitors, some holding phage models, at the University of Salford event to discuss phage.

We recently joined our colleagues at @salforduni.bsky.social to welcome Mayor Paul Dennett, and members from Salford City Council and Health Innovation Manchester, to discuss the future of #phage. A fantastic opportunity to share our work developing #phagetherapy as a treatment in #cysticfibrosis.

Trailfinder CF Director Professor Jo Fothergill, presented the work we are undertaking at the annual UK Cystic Fibrosis Trust meeting in London. Several of our ECRs are also in attendance. #cysticfibrosis #cftrust

Great to see the House of Lords phage outreach event featured on the @microbiologysociety.org blog. Many of the phage experts who attended are also involved in Trailfinder CF, along with several of our national and international collaborators in phage research microbiologysociety.org/blog/unlocki...

The Documentary - The social lives of bacteria - BBC Sounds The microscopic dramas of bacterial loners, crowd-lovers, backstabbers and do-gooders

Interested in learning more about bacterial behaviour? Check out this BBC World Service show 'The Documentary: The social lives of bacteria' featuring our Hub Director Jo Fothergill www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

“Applied science at its best” - Sir Richard Leese on our research into ‘phage therapy The University welcomed co-chair of Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership, Sir Richard Leese, to our Cockcroft building and Maker Space this week.

It was great to join our collaborators at @salforduni.bsky.social this week, to welcome Sir Richard Leese to the Salford campus. We had the opportunity to discuss the Trailfinder CF project, and our work to develop phage therapy for people with cystic fibrosis. www.salford.ac.uk/news/applied...

Visit our ‘What the Phage?!’ stand today at the Bluecoat bistro, and learn about all things phage! We’ll be here 11am-4pm #britishsciencefestival

What the phage?! | British Science Festival Run time: 11.00 – 16.00 Play the phage games, and use AR and VR to explore a fascinating, unseen world. Bacteriophages – aka phages – are viruses that only infect bacteria. They’re our most common…

The #BritishScienceFestival starts today in Liverpool! Visit us on Saturday 11am-4pm at our ‘What the Phage?!’ stand at the Bluecoat Bistro, and explore the fascinating, unseen world of phage. Drop-in, no booking required. britishsciencefestival.org/event/what-t...

Today on #WorldCysticFibrosisDay we are launching our webpage: www.liverpool.ac.uk/trailfinder-cf. Trailfinder CF aims to support people with CF at all life stages by developing new approaches to treating lung infections, managing exacerbations, and maintaining healthy lungs. #cysticfibrosis

This week members of the team are attending a phage bootcamp @exeter.ac.uk, led by Trailfinder CF co-investigator Dr Ben Temperton and researchers Dr Michelle Michelsen and Christian Finch. The team are having a brilliant time and learning lots of new lab skills for phage isolation! #phage

Trailfinder's Michelle Michelsen graduated this month with a PhD from the University of Exeter.

Michelle currently works with Dr. Ben Temperton at the University of Exeter's Citizen Phage Library.

Some of the team recently attended an AR Hackathon session at @salforduni.bsky.social, to help develop an AR game about phage. We collaborated with other science and gaming students and researchers, tested paper prototypes, gave feedback, and contributed new ideas. A fun and interesting afternoon!

Over the next 5 years, our Translational Innovation Hub Network will address challenges around finding new lung infection treatment options, detecting and treating flare-ups, and developing new ways to diagnose infections.

➡️ cysticfibrosis.org.uk/innovation-hub-network

#cysticfibrosis #cftrust

And YOU can help by becoming a Citizen Phage
#PhageHunter! You just take water samples from your local environment, post them back and if the scientists find a new phage then you can name it! Get involved here: citizenphage.com

Then we popped along to the Morson Maker Space—a 3D printing lab available for all @salforduni.bsky.social students and staff to use—what a fab resource. I was able to try out a 3D printed game showing how phage therapy works.

Massive thanks to all the researchers, students and staff who hosted my visit. It was particularly inspiring to see so many #WomeninSTEM and to see how working together is producing such amazing results!

It was great to meet @rebeccalongbailey.com with our collaborators at @salforduni.bsky.social last week! It was a fantastic opportunity to discuss the #trailfindercf project, and our work to develop #phagetherapy as a treatment for #cysticfibrosis.

There’s still time to register for @cftrustuk CF LIVE event about phage on Wednesday 25th June at 7p. Trailinfinder director Jo Fothergill and co-investigator, Phil Mitchelmore will be taking part. To find out more and to register, please use this link www.cysticfibrosis.org.uk/about-us/con...

Our project director Jo Fothergill, and co-investigator Philip Mitchelmore, will be taking part in the upcoming @cysticfibrosis.org.uk CF LIVE event about phage on Wednesday 25th June at 7pm. Find out more and register to attend here: www.cysticfibrosis.org.uk/about-us/con...

Trailfinder-CF partner, Alder Hey Children's Hospital supporting Wear Yellow Day as part of Cystic Fibrosis week #alderhey #cysticfibrosistrust

The Trailfinder CF Hub page is now live on the @cysticfibrosis.org.uk website! Part of a larger innovation hub network, our hub aims to advance phage therapy as an alternative to antibiotics, and optimise treatment for exacerbations #CFweek #cysticfibrosis www.cysticfibrosis.org.uk/research/whe...

Trailfinder-CF hub is holding its first face to face meeting in Liverpool today, bringing together colleagues together from around the country

New logo for the Trailfinder CF project. The logo is an illustration of a phage and written underneath is Trailfinder CF Innovation Hub Funded by LifeArc (logo), Cystic Fibrosis Trust (logo).

We are excited to share our new logo, developed by our partners LifeArc and @cftrustuk.bsky.social

Welcome to Trailfinder CF! Led by researchers @liverpooluni.bsky.social, our project will accelerate the development of new tests and treatments for lung infections and improve the way lung health for people with Cystic Fibrosis is managed in the UK. Funded by LifeArc and @cftrustuk.bsky.social

Improvement of a mouse infection model to capture Pseudomonas aeruginosa chronic physiology in cystic fibrosis | PNAS Laboratory models are central to microbiology research, advancing the understanding of bacterial physiology by mimicking natural environments, from...

This study developed an animal model for chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections in cystic fibrosis, combining in vitro and mouse models to better reflect bacterial physiology and challenge long-term colonization assumptions. #MicroSky www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...

Global genomic diversity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in bronchiectasis Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most common pathogen in the bronchiectasis lung, associated with worsened outcomes. P. aeruginosa genomic studies in this context have been limited to single-country, Eur...

Out now: genomics analysis of Pseudomonas in bronchiectasis — expanding geography & increasing 10-fold publicly-available genomes. High diversity between patients, key genes undergoing parallel evolution or diversification, differences & similarities to CF. www.journalofinfection.com/article/S016...