• Failure of antibiotic therapies
• Combating antibiotic resistance
• Bacteriophage therapies

This research laboratory concentrates on developing innovative strategies to combat the growing threat of antibioticresistance. We concentrate on alternatives to antibiotic therapy, such as phage therapy or antivirulence approaches.

Bacteriophages are viruses that lyse and kill bacteria at the end of their life cycles. Their therapeutic potential wasrecognised even before the universal use of antibiotics and is now seen as a possible solution to the problem ofmultiresistant bacteria.

Our research laboratory investigate the efficacy of phage therapy in the treatment of common nosocomial infections, e. g.from Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas auruginosa, using innovative animal models that map real infections. Weemploy these preclinical studies to investigate the efficiency and safety of this therapy, together with the pharmacokineticsand pharmacodynamics.

We have recently developed a rodent model for the pulmonary inflammation associated with respiration – a frequentcomplication of artificial respiration in the clinic. Our results with this model showed that phage therapy was just aseffective as standard antibiotic therapy in controlling the infection (see Prazak et al. 2019 AJRCCM).

• Swiss National Science Foundation: Prophylaxis and Treatment of Staphylococcus spp. Intravascular and Extravascular Infections with Phages
• Swiss National Science Foundation: Refining phage and antibiotic dosing for effective treatment of multidrug resistant bacterial infections

• Efficacy of phage therapy in preclinical models of bacterial infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Gómez-Ochoa SA, Pitton M, Valente LG, Sosa Vesga CD, Largo J, Quiroga-Centeno AC, Hernández Vargas JA, Trujillo-Cáceres SJ, Muka T, Cameron DR, Que YA. Lancet Microbe. 2022 Dec;3(12):e956-e968. doi: 10.1016/S2666-5247(22)00288-9. Epub 2022 Nov 10. PMID: 36370748.
• Parallel Evolution of Pseudomonas aeruginosa during a Prolonged ICU-Infection Outbreak. Cameron DR, Pitton M, Oberhaensli S, Schlegel K, Prod'hom G, Blanc DS, Jakob SM, Que YA. Microbiol Spectr. 2022 Nov 7:e0274322. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.02743-22. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36342287
• Bacteriophages for the Treatment of Biofilm-Associated Infections. Cameron, D.R., Valente, L.G., Pitton, M., Prazak, J., Que, YA. (2022). Richter, K., Kragh, K.N. (eds) Antibiofilm Strategies. Springer Series on Biofilms, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10992-8_8.
• Subtherapeutic Doses of Vancomycin Synergize with Bacteriophages for Treatment of Experimental Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infective Endocarditis. Save J, Que YA, Entenza J, Resch G. Viruses. 2022 Aug 16;14(8):1792. doi: 10.3390/v14081792. PMID: 36016414; PMCID: PMC9412893.
• ​​​​​​​Mutation to ispA Produces Stable Small-Colony Variants of Pseudomonas aeruginosa That Have Enhanced Aminoglycoside Resistance. Pitton M, Oberhaensli S, Appiah F, Pagani JL, Fournier A, Jakob SM, Que YA, Cameron DR. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2022 Jul 19;66(7):e0062122. doi: 10.1128/aac.00621-22. Epub 2022 Jul 5. PMID: 35852364; PMCID: PMC9295567.
• Benefits of Aerosolized Phages for the Treatment of Pneumonia Due to Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus: An Experimental Study in Rats. Prazak J, Valente LG, Iten M, Federer L, Grandgirard D, Soto S, Resch G, Leib SL, Jakob SM, Haenggi M, Cameron DR, Que YA. J Infect Dis. 2022 Apr 19;225(8):1452-1459. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiab112. PMID: 33668071; PMCID: PMC9016458.
• ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Bacteriophages Combined With Subtherapeutic Doses of Flucloxacillin Act Synergistically against Staphylococcus aureus Experimental Infective Endocarditis. Save J, Que YA, Entenza JM, Kolenda C, Laurent F, Resch G. J Am Heart Assoc. 2022 Feb;11(3):e023080. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.121.023080. Epub 2022 Jan 19. PMID: 35043655; PMCID: PMC9238497.
• Accuracy of pancreatic stone protein for the diagnosis of infection in hospitalized adults: a systematic review and individual patient level meta-analysis. Prazak J, Irincheeva I, Llewelyn MJ, Stolz D, García de Guadiana Romualdo L, Graf R, Reding T, Klein HJ, Eggimann P, Que YA. Crit Care. 2021 May 28;25(1):182. doi: 10.1186/s13054-021-03609-2. PMID: 34049579; PMCID: PMC8164316.
• ​​​​​​​Progress and Pitfalls of Bacteriophage Therapy in Critical Care: A Concise Definitive Review. Valente L, Prazak J, Que YA, Cameron DR. Crit Care Explor. 2021 Mar 8;3(3):e0351. doi: 10.1097/CCE.0000000000000351. PMID: 33786430; PMCID: PMC7994034.
• ​​​​​​​Isolation and characterization of bacteriophages from the human skin microbiome that infect Staphylococcus epidermidis. Valente LG, Pitton M, Fürholz M, Oberhaensli S, Bruggman R, Leib S, Jakob SM, Resch G, Que Y-A, Cameron DR. , FEMS Microbes, Volume 2, 2021, xtab003, doi.org/10.1093/femsmc/xtab003.

• Department of Infectious Diseases, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital (Prof. H. Furrer, MD)
• Institute for Infectious Diseases (IFIK), University of Bern (Prof. S. Leib, MD, Dr. Alban Ramette)
• Department of Cardiology, Bern University Hospital  (Prof Lukas Hunziker, Dr. Bruno Schnegg, Dr. Monika Fürholz)

• Department of Fundamental Microbiology, University of Lausanne (Dr. G. Resch, PhD)
• CHUV, University Hospital of Lausanne (Dr. P. Eggimann, Dr. J.-L. Pagani)
• SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Yverdon (C. Peña-Reyes)

• Microbiology and Immunobiology, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, USA (Dr. L. G. Rahme, MD, PhD, MSc, Professor of Surgery)

• Publications of Yok-Ai Que (My Bibliography)