Center for Innovative Phage Applications and Therapeutics

iPATH is the first phage therapy center in North America, bringing innovative research and clinical practice to the field of medicine. The primary goal of iPATH is to conduct rigorous clinical trials of phage therapies, thus advancing their potential to practical application. Clinical research is integrated with leading-edge translational and basic research providing critical insights into the mechanisms by which phage selectively kill their bacterial targets.

iPATH Mission and Goals

The goal of iPATH is to pursue, through collaboration with researchers, companies and institutions around the world, new treatments for combating antimicrobial resistant diseases—focusing on bacteriophage (phage) therapy. iPATH also strives to advance phage therapy into clinical trials so that it can be rigorously evaluated and if proven efficacious, become more widely available to combat the global superbug crisis.

Visit the iPATH Website

iPATH Faculty Investigators

The story of how phages have helped save lives, the tremendous depth of scientific knowledge and medical practice, combined with intuition, innovation and just sheer guts, exemplifies UC San Diego is all about. More than 20 iPATH faculty members pursue robust, interdisciplinary research to advances science and delivers tangible benefits to patients and society. iPATH taps into and enhances a wide range of existing clinical and translational research programs at UC San Diego, a leader in the treatment of multidrug-resistant bacterial infections, and fosters collaborations with the U.S. Navy Medical Research Center, the Center for Phage Technology (CPT) at Texas A&M University, San Diego State University, and industry partners.

CHARM Collaboration Contact: Steffanie Strathdee, PhD (Co-Director of iPATH)

CHARM ⬌ iPATH Collaborations

CHARM and iPATH Faculty Investigators are collaborating broadly in the realm of innovative therapeutics for highly antibiotic-resistant pathogens to develop synergistic combinations of phage, antibiotics and immune boosting therapies to ensure maximum clinical benefit. CHARM faculty are also genetically engineering phage for optimal effectiveness and pathogen range, advancing molecular diagnostics to monitor phage pharmacology in vivo, and studying the ecology of phage within the healthy microbiome and in complex diseases such as cystic fibrosis prone to resistant infeciton.

Superbug Cleared by Phage

iPATH and CHARM faculty reported a landmark case of personalized bacteriophage-based therapeutic treatment in a 68-year-old diabetic patient with necrotizing pancreatitis complicated by an MDR Acinetobacter baumannii infection. Administration of bacteriophages intravenously and percutaneously into the abscess cavities was associated with reversal of the patient's downward clinical trajectory, clearance of infection, and a return to health.

Read Article at Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy

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