Combating Antimicrobial Resistance Spread in Food and Drinks Using Bacteriophage Technologies
A special issue of Antibiotics (ISSN 2079-6382). This special issue belongs to the section "Bacteriophages".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 1873
Special Issue Editor
Interests: phage therapy; biofilms; zoonoses; prophage; bacterial pathogenicity; virulence factors; Galleria mellonella; cell lines; antimicrobial resistance; phage formulation; fermentation model; cloning; RNA seq; qPCR
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The rising prevalence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is negatively impacting treatment outcomes and posing a serious threat to human health, agriculture, and the environment. If left unchecked, AMR could lead to devastating global health and economic consequences. To mitigate this crisis, precise detection and effective control of pathogenic bacteria in key sources of infection such as agriculture, raw and processed foods, beverages, and relevant environments are crucial.
Bacteriophages (phages) are highly specialised parasitic bacterial viruses. Lytic phages infect and lyse their hosts, while temperate phages can integrate into their bacterial host chromosomes or co-exist independently as plasmids intracellularly. Harnessing phage technologies offers a promising approach to the detection and control of pathogenic bacteria. This strategy will complement existing methods, limit the spread of AMR, and enhance microbial safety in food and beverages.
In this Special Issue, we aim to publish manuscripts covering:
- Phage-based strategies as biocontrol agents of pathogenic bacteria in food and beverages (including water)
- Phage–host interactions in foodborne and waterborne bacteria in relevant infection models
- Regulatory frameworks for phage applications in food and beverages.
- Engineering, synthetic biology, and formulation strategies for optimal phage delivery, activity, and stability in agriculture, raw and processed food products, and beverages.
- Industrial and commercial applications of phages in agriculture and food processing units.
- Harnessing artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computational biology to explore the role of phages in AMR gene carriage and spread through foodborne and waterborne pathogens.
- Phage-based biosensors for pathogen detection in food products.
Dr. Janet Nale
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Antibiotics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- bacteriophage
- phage therapy
- antimicrobial resistance
- food
- drink
- water
- agriculture
- pathogenic bacteria
- lytic phages
- lysogens
- prophages
- temperate phage
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