Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded J. Craig Venter Institute, Inc. a Project Grant totaling $529,490 under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to engineer a therapeutic bacteriophage targeting Burkholderia cepacia complex (BCC) infections. The award, effective June 10, 2026, through May 31, 2028, supports research to develop an improved phage therapeutic by modifying the BCC02 phage—a naturally occurring temperate phage sourced from Burkholderia bacteria—to eliminate its lysogenic integration capabilities. The primary deliverables include engineered phage variants with disabled genome integration abilities, evaluation data demonstrating the effect of modifications on bacterial host range expansion, and efficacy testing results against clinically relevant BCC isolates from cystic fibrosis patients. The research employs transformation-associated recombination (TAR) cloning methods to target and remove the lysogeny control region, with the goal of converting the phage into an obligately lytic agent that destroys all bacteria it infects.

This project addresses a critical clinical need by advancing an alternative therapeutic strategy for difficult-to-treat BCC respiratory infections in immunocompromised patients where conventional antibiotic treatments frequently fail. The research outputs—engineered phage constructs, host range and lytic activity data, and clinical relevance assessments—are intended to support the development of a potentially viable phage-based therapeutic candidate for future clinical applications in cystic fibrosis and other patient populations affected by BCC infections.