NEW YORK – Vésale Bioscience announced on Tuesday that it has received €1.8 million ($1.9 million) in grants from the European Innovation Council Accelerator Fund to develop its phage therapy diagnostic platform.
The PhageDiag project uses artificial intelligence to determine appropriate bacteriophages to treat a particular bacterial infection, the Namur, Belgium-based company said in a statement. The platform includes a disposable well plate with reagents, a high-performance luminometer, and software that helps assess which phage combination is best to treat the patient.
The phagogram can compare the activity of up to 96 phages on a bacterial culture within two to three hours, Vésale CSO Johan Quintens said in a statement. That speed makes "phage susceptibility testing accessible for hospital microbiology labs" and enables "personalized therapy on a routine basis," he added.