2025 Phage Therapy Workshop

November 25th, 2025 at the Spine Building in Liverpool

Rising levels of antimicrobial resistance threaten healthcare systems and economies worldwide. Phage therapy has proven to be an effective last-resort treatment against multidrug resistant bacterial infections, but faces multiple barriers to its widespread use. Join our inter-disciplinary panel of speakers to discuss the advances, challenges, and next generation of phage therapy across the globe.

This workshop is led by our scientific committee: Stineke van Houte, Jo Fothergill, Edze Westra, and Mike Brockhurst.

Registration

A registration link will be added closer to the workshop date. As places are limited, kindly inform the organizers if you will be unable to attend. For any questions, please e-mail H.E.Westlake@exeter.ac.uk

Programme

SESSION 1: Phage therapy across the globe
9.00-9.30   Jean-Paul Pirnay, Queen Astrid Military Hospital, Brussels, Belgium
9.30-10.00  Joanne Santini, University College London, UK
10.00-10.30 Stan Brouns, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
10.30-11.00 Graham Hatfull, University of Pittsburgh, USA
      
11.00-11.30 COFFEE
      
SESSION 2: Next generation of phage therapies
11.30-12.00 Vivek Mutalik, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, USA
12.00-12.30 Balint Kintses, HCEMM, BRC Szeged, Hungary
12.30-1.00  Alex Hynes, McMaster University, Canada
      
1.00-2.00   LUNCH
      
SESSION 3: Implementation of phage therapy in the UK
2.00-2.30   Carmen Coxon, MRHA
2.30-3.00   Mark Sutton, UKHSA
3.00-3.30   Libby Duignan, Centre for Process Innovation, Liverpool
      
3.30-4.00   COFFEE

4.00-4.15   CLOSING REMARKS
      
4.00-5.00   PANEL DISCUSSION led by Dr. Fran Hodges (Innovate UK)

Followed by a reception with drinks and light snacks.

This workshop is jointly hosted by the Universities of Manchester, Liverpool and Exeter, with funding from UK Research and Innovation.