The present invention concerns a production bacterial cell for producing phage particles or phage-derived delivery vehicles, said production bacterial cell stably comprising at least one phage structural gene(s) and at least one phage DNA packaging gene(s), said phage structural gene(s) and phage DNA packaging gene(s) being derived from a first type of bacteriophage, wherein the expression of at least one of said phage structural gene(s) and/or at least one of said phage DNA packaging gene(s) in said production bacterial cell is controlled by at least one induction mechanism, and wherein said production bacterial cell is from a bacterial species or strain different from the bacterial species or strain from which said first type of bacteriophage comes and/or that said first type of bacteriophage targets.

Provided is an oncolytic recombinant bacteriophage T7 expressing a cytokine in eukaryotic cells and displaying on its capsid a tumor specific homing peptide, thus inducing direct lysis of target tumor cells and immunological response to the phage leading to the effective anticancer effect. The phage naturally infecting bacteria, not human beings, provides a great advantage for gene manipulation and production for the development of anticancer agents.

Disclosed herein are methods and systems for rapid detection of microorganisms such as Listeria spp. in a sample. A genetically modified bacteriophage is also disclosed which comprises an indicator gene in the late gene region. The specificity of the bacteriophage, such as Listeria-specific bacteriophage, allows detection of a specific microorganism, such as Listeria spp. and an indicator signal may be amplified to optimize assay sensitivity.

The present disclosure provides compositions including recombinant K1E bacteriophages, methods for making the same, and uses thereof. The recombinant K1E bacteriophages disclosed herein are useful for the identification and/or antibiotic susceptibility profiling of specific bacterial strains/species present in a sample.

Generally, this disclosure relates to expression constructs that encode a reporter enzyme-affinity binding tag fusion protein that is produced after the construct is inserted into bacteriophage and the bacteriophage infects bacteria. In some embodiments, the fusion protein is captured and produces a detectable signal. Signal intensity may correlate with the number of bacterial cells in a fluid sample. Methods of detecting bacteria using the expression constructs, and microfluidic devices for detecting bacteria using the expression constructs are also disclosed.

Disclosed herein are methods and systems for rapid detection of microorganisms such as bacteria in a sample. A genetically modified bacteriophage is also disclosed which comprises an indicator gene encoding one subunit of an indicator protein. The specificity of the bacteriophage allows detection of a particular bacteria of interest and an indicator signal may be amplified to optimize assay sensitivity.

The system described herein for bacterial identification can be used as a point-of-care or lab-based diagnostic system. In some implementations, the system can be used to detect other foreign agents within blood or other samples. The system can include disposable microfluidic cartridges that are removable from the system. The microfluidic cartridges can receive a sample, such as a blood sample, that is suspected of containing bacterial cells and separate the bacterial cells from the blood sample. Once the bacterial cells are separated from the blood, the system can introduce the recombinant detector bacteriophages into the system that can infect the bacterial cells. The system can then detect the expression of reporter genes from the recombinant detector bacteriophages.

Provided is an oncolytic recombinant bacteriophage T7 expressing a cytokine in eukaryotic cells and displaying on its capsid a tumor specific homing peptide, thus inducing direct lysis of target tumor cells and immunological response to the phage leading to the effective anticancer effect. The phage naturally infecting bacteria, not human beings, provides a great advantage for gene manipulation and production for the development of anticancer agents.

Disclosed herein is an engineered bacteriophage comprising an indicator gene, wherein said indicator gene is an RNA aptamer or a green fluorescent protein (GFP) or GFP-like protein, and further wherein said indicator gene can indicate the presence of a microorganism, such as a bacterial infection. The engineered bacteriophage can be capable of infecting and killing the microorganism. The engineered microorganism can be in a composition for delivery to a subject, and can be in hyaluronic acid, for example. Also disclosed are methods of using the engineered bacteriophage to diagnose and/or treat a subject with a bacterial infection.

The present disclosure provides methods and kits for generating recombinant bacteriophage genomes.