For the 21st episode of the Arqus Knowledge Pills, we talked to Zuzanna Drulis-Kawa from the University of Wrocław. She is a Professor at and head of the Department of Pathogen Biology and Immunology at the Faculty of Biological Sciences.
In this episode, she helps us understand what phage-derived enzymes are. They can be used as an alternative to antibiotics in fighting illnesses and represent hope against antibiotic resistance. Zuzanna explains how the enzymes work and gives us examples of their application in current medicine.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5ZjbO67L5AM0iYwn9lDQSB?si=c786aedd05434b28
Learn more about Professor Zuzanna Drulis-Kawa:
Zuzanna Drulis-Kawa is a full professor at the Faculty of Biological Sciences of the University of Wrocław and a certified clinical microbiologist and diagnostician with over 15 years experience of working in a clinical microbiology lab at the Korczak Children’s Hospital in Wroclaw, Poland. She is also President of the International Society for Viruses of Microbes and an Executive Committee Member (Treasurer) of the ESCMID Study Group for Non-traditional Antibacterial Therapy – ESGNTA.
Her research is focused mainly on the antibacterial activity of phages and phage-derived enzymes, such as depolymerases and endolysins. Drulis-Kawa is a co-author of over 100 publications in international journals. During her scientific career, Zuzanna has received over 20 grants from national and international research funding organizations. She has served as a Panel Expert/Reviewer in the research project evaluation for the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST Association), the JPI AMR program, ESCMID, and the Research Council UK, among others.
At the moment, she is coordinating the JPI-AMR KLEOPATRA project entitled “Design and implementation of effective cOmbination of Phages and Antibiotics for improved TheRApy protocols against KLEbsiella pneumoniae” (2023-2026).
The episodes of the “Arqus Knowledge Pills” are published on a regular basis and can be subscribed to on Spotify and other platforms (see below). Doriane Duvault (Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1) and Josephine Petzold (Leipzig University) are the moderators that lead listeners through each episode.