Julie Callanan, a PhD researcher at UCC, is looking to develop a natural treatment that could provide an alternative to antibiotic resistance.
The global problem of antibiotic resistance, whereby all available antibiotic drugs become useless, is becoming more and more apparent as time goes on.
With only two new antibiotics developed in the past 70 years and being no closer to finding a new one, researchers are looking for alternatives.
One such researcher is University College Cork PhD student Julie Callanan who presented her work at Researchfest as part of Inspirefest 2018.
Rather than trying to develop a new drug, Callanan is working with a type of tiny virus called bacteriophage. Despite its healing properties being known about for a century, western medicine had been left in the dark.
Now, though, bacteriophage could be about to make a big difference worldwide.
Words by Colm Gorey
