Control of Gastrointestinal Helminth Parasites By Lactobacillus

Sanjiban Banerjee and Sambuddha Ghosh at AbGenics LifeSciences Pvt. Ltd in India will develop a new method to treat intestinal worm (helminth) infections using modified probiotic strains of the bacterium Lactobacillus. Lactobacillus, which can live in the human gut, will be modified to produce stable RNA molecules selected to target specific helminth genes and ultimately destroy the parasite, thereby curing the infection. Because Lactobacillus colonizes the gut, it can be used as a long-term treatment for multiple helminth infections. Efficacy of the approach will be tested in hamster and rabbit models of intestinal worm infections. This grant was selected through India's IKP Knowledge Park and their IKP-GCE program.