Deep Generative Transformers to Design Tailored Bacteriophage Proteins for Antimicrobial Treatment

DASHH Doctoral Researcher: Roberta Giorgi

Supervisors: Prof. Michael Kolbe (HZI, UHH), Prof. Jan Baumbach (UHH)

TailorPhage addresses a critical, unmet need for novel antimicrobial strategies against multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria. It aims to advance the personalized therapeutic use of bacteriophages, host-specific viruses that do not harm humans, to effectively treat MDR-bacterial infections. A hybrid computational-experimental approach leverages protein foundation models and deep transfer learning to predict bacteriophage-bacterial protein-protein interactions, assess the impact of protein sequence modifications, and ultimately facilitate the in silico design of phage proteins for selected bacterial targets.