From \u201ctreasure hunting in sewage\u201d to \u201c1-hour matching,\u201d new productive forces are breaking technological barriers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Bacteriophages are the most abundant microorganisms on Earth\u2014every milliliter of sewage may contain millions of them. As viruses that specifically attack bacteria and are harmless to human cells, they are nature\u2019s \u201cchosen weapon\u201d against bacterial infections. Yet for years, limitations in traditional technology prevented their potential from being fully realized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn the past, treating infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria meant first isolating phages from sewage, then matching them with the patient\u2019s bacterial strain\u2014a process that could take at least a week. Many critically ill patients simply couldn\u2019t wait that long,\u201d said \u6731\u540c\u7389<\/strong>, Vice Dean of \u590d\u65e6\u5927\u5b66\u4e0a\u6d77\u533b\u5b66\u9662<\/strong>, Director of \u590d\u65e6\u5927\u5b66\u566c\u83cc\u4f53\u7814\u7a76\u6240<\/strong>, and academic leader of kidney transplantation at \u4e2d\u5c71\u533b\u9662<\/strong>. His words reveal the challenge that traditional phage therapy has long faced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But now, a research team in Shanghai has completely broken this deadlock with a \u201cvirtual matching\u201d technology<\/strong>. Relying on big data and epidemiological analysis, this innovation eliminates the need to wait for a patient\u2019s bacterial sample. By using only information such as the infection site and antibiotic susceptibility, the system can accurately predict the bacterial strain through its database and generate a customized bacteriophage \u201ccocktail\u201d formula within just one hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This formula typically combines 3\u20134 phages to cover the top three most likely pathogens\u2014enabling doctors to treat ahead of time<\/strong> instead of waiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Supporting this breakthrough is a biological resource bank<\/strong> the team has spent eight years building. Inside the refrigerators at the \u590d\u65e6\u5927\u5b66\u566c\u83cc\u4f53\u7814\u7a76\u6240<\/strong>, there\u2019s no food\u2014only samples collected from sewage treatment plants and hospitals in more than 20 provinces and cities across China. Over the years, they\u2019ve screened thousands of phage strains, creating a \u201cweapons arsenal\u201d targeting common drug-resistant bacteria such as Acinetobacter baumannii<\/em> and Pseudomonas aeruginosa<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last year alone, the team achieved nearly 100% matching success<\/strong> for Acinetobacter baumannii<\/em>. Only two newly emerged bacterial strains didn\u2019t match any existing phages\u2014and these two became precious resources for expanding the \u201carsenal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n From personalized rescue to engineered innovation \u2014 building a full-chain ecosystem<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Eighty-four-year-old Grandpa Wu is a direct beneficiary of this technology. He had developed acute cholecystitis after knee replacement surgery, which led to an infection with drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii<\/em>. After being admitted to the ICU, his lung inflammation worsened rapidly, and all conventional antibiotics failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt that time, the doctors said there were no more treatment options left. We transferred him to \u4e2d\u5c71\u533b\u9662<\/strong> with only a sliver of hope,\u201d recalled his family. After the transfer, the team used virtual matching to precisely identify the K23 strain of Acinetobacter baumannii<\/em>. Just two rounds of phage therapy<\/strong> led to a marked reduction in his sputum production, and the lung infection was brought under control. Two weeks later, he was out of danger \u2014 and today, he can eat normally and do rehabilitation exercises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cases like this are not isolated<\/strong> in Shanghai\u2019s clinical practice. So far, the team has completed over 200 phage therapy treatments<\/strong>, achieving a 78% effectiveness rate<\/strong>\u2014significantly higher than the roughly 50% success rate of antibiotics. The incidence of side effects is just 7%, and most are manageable fevers, without the allergic reactions commonly seen with antibiotics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Behind these achievements stands a young, dynamic team with an average age of 30, who have built a full-chain innovation system<\/strong>. Among the fewer than 20 team members, half hold graduate degrees, with backgrounds spanning virology, pathogenic microbiology, and related fields. They haven\u2019t just overcome the technical bottleneck of rapid phage matching\u2014they\u2019ve also enhanced the power of these \u201cnatural killers\u201d through synthetic biology<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSome bacteria develop resistance systems, so we use gene editing to strengthen the phage\u2019s adhesion. Some phages have a narrow antibacterial spectrum, so we modify their \u2018attack targets\u2019 to broaden their range,\u201d explained \u6731\u540c\u7389<\/strong>. The team has secured a series of patents around phage formulation, purification processes, and engineering transformation\u2014marking a leap from \u201cindividualized rescue\u201d to standardized products<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From laboratory breakthroughs to industrial scaling \u2014 paving a \u201cChinese pathway\u201d to global leadership<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhile some Western countries have already approved limited clinical use of phage therapy, we have clear advantages in matching speed and personalized treatment design<\/strong>,\u201d said Zhu Tongyu. He added that the team is now working with national authorities to promote phage therapy as a standardized clinical technology, while also exploring applications in vaccine delivery and cancer treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the future, phages are expected to become a platform technology<\/strong>, playing a role in many more medical scenarios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From a \u201cnatural microorganism\u201d in sewage<\/strong> to an \u201cengineered weapon\u201d<\/strong> in the laboratory; from precise matching completed in just one hour<\/strong> to a comprehensive industrial system<\/strong>, Shanghai is using new productive forces to power a stunning transformation of bacteriophages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is not a simple replication of traditional technology, but a qualitative leap<\/strong>\u2014driven by the deep integration of big data, synthetic biology, and standardized production<\/strong>\u2014turning phages from something merely \u201cusable\u201d into something truly highly effective<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.transplantation.com.cn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-1024x768.png\")
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