Garyk Brixi (Arc Institute and Stanford University) and colleagues have expanded on Evo 1, which was trained on prokaryotic and phage genomes, to create Evo 2, now the largest AI model in biology. It was trained on 9.3 trillion nucleotides from 128,000 genomes across all domains of life (spanning bacteria, archaea, phages, humans, plants, and other single-celled and multi-cellular species). It identifies genetic patterns, predicts mutation effects, and designs genome-scale sequences. Evo 2 is fully open-source — play with it here!
Benjamin Adler (University of California, Berkeley) and colleagues published CRISPRi-ART for phage functional genomics, a new broad-spectrum phage functional genomics platform. It leverages RNA-targeting dCas13d to selectively interfere with protein translation, allowing measurement of phage gene fitness at a transcriptome-wide scale. It works for all kinds of phages, and has already identified more than 90 previously unknown genes important for phage fitness!
Melissa Cammuso (The Ottawa Hospital) and colleagues have published a preprint in medRxiv on the first use of phage therapy in Canada for life-threatening, MDR Staphylococcus epidermidis periprosthetic joint infection. This ‘n of 1 trial’ describes how the phage was administered intra-articularly and intravenously, leading to sustained clinical improvement.
Los Angeles Biotech startup Parallel Health has announced an expanded protocol for personalized skin treatments using microbiome science and phage therapy. Their approach combines microbiome testing, custom phage serums, telehealth, and prescriptions to address various skin conditions.
Maria Touceda-Suarez (University of Arizona) and colleagues compiled a report on last year’s successful International Soil Virus Conference 2024, showing key developments in soil viral ecology and recommendations for future research in this rapidly advancing field. Also, participation at this meeting doubled since 2022, with 38% early-career researchers attending from 10 countries!
