About me:
🇨🇦 Grew up in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada
🎓 Studied biology at the University of Alberta in Edmonton (2007-2015)
🍑 Moved to Athens, Georgia during grad school (2016-2021)
👩🏼💻Started a crowdsourcing platform for treating antibiotic-resistant infections (@PhageDirectory); saved 5 patients from death/amputation (2017-now)
🎓 Got my PhD in Microbiology & Biotechnology (2018)
🦘Set up Australia’s first phage therapy center (@PhageAustralia): treated 12 patients in our first 12 months! (2022-2024)
🌲 Moved to Stanford University to help build a phage therapy center (2024)
I write about:
✍️ Science, being a scientist, & how new technology is changing all of it:
🧪 LabSanity Blog: How to stay sane in the lab
🧬 Jessica’s TechBio Adventures: How new technology is changing science
🧫 Capsid & Tail: The phage research & development community’s weekly watering hole
Come join the fun! 👉 Follow me on Twitter @JessicaSacher
A decade in the lab has led to learnings on what works and doesn’t. I’ve decided to start sharing my tips, tricks and frameworks to maintain sanity in the lab!
About 7 years ago I got into the phage therapy space. This became my bread and butter. I’ve written lots of posts over the years across our Capsid & Tail newsletter, the Phage Australia Blog, and for the odd external publication. Here’s where you can find my favourites!
[More to be added soon]
Here’s an overview of what I’ve been up to careerwise, & links to my work.
Developing phage therapeutics @ Stanford
March 2024 — present
Bollyky Lab, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, USA
- I recently joined Paul Bollyky’s lab as a Staff Scientist to help build a phage technology center at Stanford
- Questions we want to answer include: what happens when phages enter the body? Why do phages sometimes work in a Petri dish but not in vivo? What does the immune system really think about phages? How should phages be produced, purified, stored and delivered? How should phages be combined with other phages and with antibiotics?
- We will also be pursuing creating a phage therapy pipeline for compassionate use patients here, in collaboration with Stanford clinicians with patients suffering from untreatable bacterial infections
Making & testing phages @ Phage Australia
Feb 2022 — Feb 2024
Phage Australia, Westmead Institute for Medical Research, Sydney, Australia
- Part of the 6-person team (and one of 2 on the lab side) that launched Phage Australia, a new phage therapy clinic & diagnostics service producing safe personalized phages for patients across Australia.
- For each patient, we would screen a library patient strains, select active phages, produce & purify a batch of phages (tangential flow filtration and affinity chromatography via AKTA Flux & AKTA Pure systems), quality-check our batch (genomic sequencing and endotoxin testing of the final product), prepare patient-ready aliquots, and deliver to patient bedside. We also collected serum samples and monitor patients during therapy with qPCR.
- In our first year, we produced 17 phage batches that have been administered IV, topically and via nebulizer to 14 patients (kids and adults) across 5 hospitals through our STAMP clinical trial (3 cures to date, 6 partial responses, others pending).
- Our efforts led our team to raise $3.5M non-dilutive funding from New South Wales Government in July 2023 and $4M philanthropic funding in Dec 2023.
- (June 2023): Getting our AKTA-gether: Using the AKTA Flux to purify phages for patients — My exploration of using tangential flow filtration to clean our phages (loving this system so far!)
- (March-April 2023): qPCR as a window into phage therapy, part I and part II — My foray into using qPCR on patient serum samples to track phages and bacteria, to see if phage therapy is working.
- ❤️ My fave (Dec 2022): Building a phage therapy center: lessons in scaling bio, team science & priorities — My top 10 lessons from spending 2022 helping set up a new phage therapy center.
- (Sept 2022): How do we prove our phages are safe? — I share my recent foray into learning about phage quality control and working toward setting up a basic phage QC system in the lab.
- (Aug 2022): Therapeutic phage-making: how my first batch measured up — I share results from the first batch of therapeutic phages I made (Update: these were administered to a patient Oct 13, 2022, & 6 months later he was declared cured!)
- (July 2022): How to start making phages for therapy — I write about my process for setting up a new phage-making system in the lab, including making sense of a dizzying array of options, managing overwhelm, and resisting 'optimization creep'.
Co-founder, head of community & science
Nov 2017 — present
Phage Directory LLC, Atlanta, Georgia
- Built and managed an online database of research professionals, labs, organizations to accelerate access to phages and phage data for phage therapy and research; primary point of contact with dozens of researchers, biotech professionals, clinicians, AMR patients and family members
- Coordinated urgent phage sourcing efforts for compassionate phage therapy (50+ since 2017; 3 resulted in successful patient treatment)
- Collaborated with researchers and phage banks internationally to develop specifications for a universal phage management and data publication platform (now the basis for Phage Australia’s phage data system), including traveling to speak to >30 research labs in the USA, Canada, Europe & Australia.
- Created Capsid & Tail, a weekly newsletter and blog for the global phage research and development community; trained and managed volunteer writers and editors; designed, implemented successful sponsorship model for content; grew audience from 0 to 1400+ email subscribers (80+ countries, 40% open rate), 7K+ Twitter followers (@PhageDirectory), 245 issues as of Nov 2023.
- Hosted and ran PHAVES (Phage Directory Virtual Event Series), a virtual research seminar series (25+ events hosted 2020-2021)
- Published 2 reviews & 1 book chapter on phage sourcing for compassionate use (Sacher et al. 2019, McCallin et al. 2019, Sacher and Zheng 2019); invited to speak at Evergreen Phage Conference (2023, 2019), Targeting Phage Therapy conference (2023), International Conference on Bacteriophage Research and Therapy (2023, 2019) and Bacteriophage Therapy Summit (2020)
- Conducted the State of Phage Survey (phage & bacterial strain census & methods survey across 130+ labs across 40+ countries) — results published in 2021 across 3 blog posts: State of Phage #1: A wide diversity of backgrounds & phage experience; State of Phage #2: A wide diversity of strains; State of Phage #3: Exploring phage collections, & compiled as a single publication in PHAGE Journal: inPhocus: “State of Phage” Survey Highlights Widespread Diverse Phage Isolation and Research in 40+ Countries
Recent podcast interviews & talks
- ✨NEW! Nov 2023: TechLink Health Podcast: Defeating Superbugs: An Evolutionary Battle (listen here)
- June 2023: Targeting Phage Therapy Conference talk: “Helping scale phage therapy, from Phage Directory to Phage Australia.” (watch here)
- April 2022: Ultrarare Podcast: “Phage Directory: How a Decentralized Network of Researchers Find Cures” (listen here)
- Mar 2022: Disobedient Scientist Podcast: “PhD to Entrepreneur with Jessica Sacher” (listen here)
- Nov 2021: World Phage Week presentation “Science Communication to Defeat Antimicrobial Resistance” (watch here)
- July 2021: Joyful Microbe Podcast: “Using viruses to battle superbugs (phage therapy)” (listen here)
- Oct 2021 “The enemy of my enemy: The return of phage therapy” for the EMBO Podcast (listen here)
Education
9/2012 — 6/2018
PhD in Microbiology and Biotechnology
University of Alberta, Canada
Thesis: “Insights into the role of the flagellar glycosylation system in Campylobacter jejuni phage-host interactions”
Advisor: Dr. Christine M. Szymanski
9/2007 — 4/2012
Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Microbiology
University of Alberta, Canada
Past experience
Graduate Research & Teaching Assistant
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada 2012 – 2018
Research
- Investigated C. jejuni growth inhibition by a phage glycan binding protein and its role in the phage life cycle (Sacher et al. 2020; Javed et al. 2015; Javed, Sacher et al. 2015)
- Developed a phage receptor binding protein identification assay (Simpson, Sacher et al. 2015)
- Investigated phage interaction with C. jejuni flagellar glycans (Irons, Sacher et al. 2019)
- Reviewed phage protein interactions with bacterial glycans (Simpson, Sacher et al. 2015)
- Obtained first transcriptome of a lytic C. jejuni phage infection (Sacher et al. 2018)
- Characterized novel Campylobacter phage DNA modifications (Crippen et al. 2019)
- Investigated the effect of cholera toxin on Campylobacter (Patry et al. 2019)
Teaching
- Taught 4 semesters undergraduate biology lab courses (2 courses/semester, 6 h independent teaching time/week); received 2 teaching awards
- Supervised research of 2 PhD students, 4 undergraduate students (4-8 months each).
Publications
Journal articles
- Lynch, S., Sinclair, H., Mileham, N., Khatami, A., Sacher, J. C., Zheng, J., Lin, R. C. Y., & Iredell, J. R. (2024). Understanding clinical needs and attitudes towards phage therapy in the CF community [Preprint]. medRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.05.14.24307275v1
- Plymoth, M., Lynch, S. A., Khatami, A. K., Sinclair, H. A., Sacher, J. C., Zheng, J., Lin, R. C. Y., & Iredell, J. R. (2023). Attitudes to phage therapy among Australian infectious diseases physicians [Preprint]. medRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.07.03.23292153
- Sacher, J. C., Zheng, J., & Lin, R. C. (2022). Data to Power Precision Phage Therapy: A Look at the Phage Directory–Phage Australia Partnership. PHAGE: Therapy, Applications, and Research, 3(2), 112-115. DOI: 10.1089/phage.2022.29030.jcs
- Sacher, J. C., & Zheng, J. (2021). inPhocus: “State of Phage” Survey Highlights Widespread Diverse Phage Isolation and Research in 40+ Countries. PHAGE: Therapy, Applications, and Research, 2(4), 156-169. DOI: 10.1089/phage.2021.29023.jcs
- Sacher, J. C., Javed, M. A., Crippen, C. S., Butcher, J., Flint, A., Stintzi, A., & Szymanski, C. M. (2021). Reduced Infection Efficiency of Phage NCTC 12673 on Non-Motile Campylobacter jejuni Strains Is Related to Oxidative Stress. Viruses, 13(10), 1955. DOI: 10.3390/v13101955 [Editor’s Choice]
- Lin, R. C., Sacher, J. C., Ceyssens, P. J., Zheng, J., Khalid, A., Iredell, J. R., & Network, T. A. P. B. (2021). Phage Biobank: Present Challenges and Future Perspectives. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 68, 221-230. DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2020.12.018.
- Sacher, J. C., Shajahan, A., Butcher, J., Patry, R. T., Flint, A., Stintzi, A., Hendrixson, D., Azadi, P., and Szymanski, C. M. (2020) Binding of phage-encoded FlaGrab to motile Campylobacter jejuni flagella inhibits growth, downregulates energy metabolism, and requires specific flagellar glycans. Frontiers in Microbiology, 11, 397. DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.00397.
- McCallin, S., Suh, G., Sacher, J., Koeris, M., Barreto, M., Blasdel, B., ... & McCallin, S. (2020). PHAGE Futures Congress Meeting Summary Washington, DC January 29 to 30, 2020. PHAGE, 1, 83-86. DOI: 10.1089/phage.2020.29006.fre
- Crippen, C. S., Lee, Y. J., Hutinet, G., Shajahan, A., Sacher, J. C., Azadi, P., de Crécy-Lagard, V., Weigele, P. R., and Szymanski, C. M. (2019) Deoxyinosine and 7-deaza-2-deoxyguanosine as carriers of genetic information in the DNA of Campylobacter viruses. Journal of Virology, 93(23): e01111-19. DOI: 10.1128/JVI.01111-19.
- Irons, J. L., Sacher, J. C., Szymanski, C. M., & Downs, D. M. (2019). Cj1388 is a RidA homolog and is required for flagella biosynthesis and/or function in Campylobacter jejuni. Frontiers in Microbiology, 10, 2058. DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.02058.
- McCallin, S., Sacher, J. C., Zheng, J., & Chan, B. K. (2019). Current state of compassionate phage therapy. Viruses, 11(4), 343. DOI: 10.3390/v11040343.
- Patry, R. T., Stahl, M., Perez-Munoz, M. E., Wenzel, C. Q., Sacher, J. C., Coros, C., Walter, J., Vallance, B. A., and Szymanski, C. M. (2019) Bacterial AB5 toxins inhibit the growth of gut bacteria by targeting ganglioside-like glycoconjugates. Nature Communications, 10, 1390. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09362-z.
- Sacher, J. C., Zheng, J., & McCallin, S. (2019) Sourcing Phages for Compassionate Use. Microbiology Australia 40(1) 24-27. DOI: 10.1071/MA19012.
- Sacher, J. C., Flint, A., Butcher, J., Blasdel, B., Reynolds, H. M., Lavigne, R., Stintzi, A., and Szymanski, C. M. (2018). Transcriptomic Analysis of the Campylobacter jejuni Response to T4-Like Phage NCTC 12673 Infection. Viruses, 10(6). DOI: 10.3390/v10060332.
- Sacher, J. C., Yee, E., Szymanski, C. M., & Miller, W. G. (2018). Complete Genome Sequences of Three Campylobacter jejuni Phage-Propagating Strains. Genome Announcements, 6(24), e00514-18. DOI: 10.1128/genomeA.00514-18.
- Sacher, J. C., Yee, E., Szymanski, C. M., & Miller, W. G. (2018). Complete Genome Sequence of Campylobacter jejuni Strain 12567, a Livestock-Associated Clade Representative. Genome Announcements, 6(24), e00513-18. DOI: 10.1128/genomeA.00513-18.
- Simpson, D. J., Sacher, J. C., Szymanski, C. M. (2016). Development of an Assay for the Identification of Receptor Binding Proteins from Bacteriophages. Viruses, 8(1), 17. DOI: 10.3390/v8010017
- Javed, M. A., Sacher, J. C., van Alphen, L. B., Patry, R. T., Szymanski, C. M. (2015). A Flagellar Glycan-Specific Protein Encoded by Campylobacter Phages Inhibits Host Cell Growth. Viruses, 7(12), 6661-6674. DOI: 10.3390/v7122964
- Simpson, D. J., Sacher, J. C., Szymanski, C. M. (2015). Exploring the interactions between bacteriophage-encoded glycan binding proteins and carbohydrates. Current Opinion in Structural Biology, 34, 69-77. DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2015.07.00 Authors contributed equally
- Javed, M. A., Alphen, L. B., Sacher, J., Ding, W., Kelly, J., Nargang, C., Smith, D. F., Cummings, R. D., Szymanski, C. M. (2015). A receptor-binding protein of Campylobacter jejuni bacteriophage NCTC 12673 recognizes flagellin glycosylated with acetamidino-modified pseudaminic acid. Molecular Microbiology, 95(1), 101-115. doi: 10.1111/mmi.12849
Book chapters
- Sacher J. C., Zheng J. (2019) Phage Therapy Collaboration and Compassionate Use. In: Harper D., Abedon S., Burrowes B., McConville M. (eds) Bacteriophages: Biology, Technology, Therapy. Springer, Cham.
Laboratory Skills
Manipulation of bacteria and phages:
Culturing, isolation, manipulation, Gram-staining, biochemical testing, motility and biofilm analysis, shipping and receiving of pathogens (primarily Campylobacter jejuni, a fastidious microaerophile). Phage isolation, propagation, purification, characterization. [Multiple phage families against multiple bacterial species, including E. coli, Campylobacter jejuni, Pseudomonas aeruginosa.]
Phage production, purification, quality control:
Production (flask-scale), purification (tangential flow filtration via AKTA Flux, octanol-extraction, affinity chromatography via EndoTrap columns and AKTA Pure), safety verification (genomic safety, endotoxin content, sterility, pH, potency) and formulation of phage preparations for intravenous and topical patient administration. [Multiple phage families against multiple bacterial species, including E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae.]
Molecular genetics:
DNA and RNA isolation, plasmid preparation, primer design, PCR, whole genome amplification, cloning, transformation, mutagenesis, complementation, sequencing, genetic screen and diagnostic assay development, Biolog analysis, agarose gel electrophoresis.
Next-Generation sequencing and bioinformatics:
Library preparation, whole genome sequencing (Illumina), RNA-seq, genome assembly and analysis, variant calling, BLAST.
Protein and glycan analysis:
Recombinant protein purification (affinity, ion exchange and size-exclusion chromatography), polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, antibody detection (Western blotting, ELISA, chemiluminescent and colorimetric detection), glycan extraction and analysis (mass spectrometry, NMR spectroscopy).
Microscopy:
Transmission electron (immunogold labelling), scanning electron, bright-field, fluorescence, phase-contrast.
Lab safety:
Autoclaving, safe disposal of hazardous waste, safe use of a biosafety cabinet and chemical fume-hood. Biosafety level II // PC2 lab.
Academic and research awards
- Canada Governor General’s Gold Medal (awarded to doctoral graduate with highest academic standing University-wide), 2018
- Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship — Doctoral (CGS-D3), NSERC 2015-2018
- President’s Doctoral Prize of Distinction, University of Alberta, 2015, 2016, 2017
- Alberta Innovates Technology Futures Top-Up Award, 2013
- NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship — Master’s (PGS-M), NSERC 2013
Invited Scientific Talks
- Sacher, J. C. (Nov 2023) Creating systems to scale phage therapy. Amrita Legion for Antimicrobial Resistance Management (ALARM) Conference, Kollam, Kerala, India. (Slides)
- Sacher, J. C. (Oct 2023) Phages for patients: Updates and challenges in therapeutic phage production at Phage Australia, Westmead. Bioprocessing Network Conference, Melbourne, Australia. (Slides)
- Sacher, J. C. (Sept 2023) Creating systems to safely scale phage therapy, from Phage Directory to Phage Australia. 2023 ICBRAR Conference, Chennai, India. (Slides)
- Sacher, J. C. (Aug 2023) Creating systems to safely scale phage therapy, from Phage Directory to Phage Australia. 2023 Evergreen International Phage Conference in Olympia, Washington, USA. (Slides)
- Sacher, J. C. (June 2023) Helping scale phage therapy, from Phage Directory to Phage Australia. Targeting Phage Therapy Conference, Paris, France. (Youtube recording)
- Sacher, J. C. (Oct 2022) Bringing therapeutic phage manufacturing to Australia. Bioprocessing Network Conference, Sydney, Australia. (Slides)
- Sacher, J. C., Javed, M. A., Butcher, J., Flint, A., Stintzi, A., and Szymanski, C. M. (2018) Unexpected factors influencing Campylobacter jejuni infection by phage NCTC 12673. Laboratory of Gene Technology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
- Sacher, J. C., Javed, M.A., Butcher, J., Flint, A., Patry, R.T., Stintzi, A. and Szymanski, C.M. (2017) Unexpected interactions between Campylobacter bacteriophages and host protein glycosylation. Bacteriophage Online 2017 Conference, EuroSciCon.com.
- Sacher, J. C., Javed, M. A., Patry, R., and Szymanski, C. M. (2015) Campylobacter bacteriophages encode a flagellar glycan-binding effector protein that reduces cell motility and growth. Campylobacter, Helicobacter and Related Organisms (CHRO) Conference, Rotorua, New Zealand.
- Sacher, J. C., Javed, M.A., Arutyunov, D., and Szymanski, C.M. (2014) Bacteriophage protein binding to Campylobacter jejuni flagellar glycans influences bacterial motility and growth. National Carbohydrate Symposium, Canmore, Canada.
- Sacher, J. C., Simpson, D.J., Javed, M.A., Arutyunov, D., and Szymanski, C.M. (2013) Use of genomic expression libraries to screen the bacteriophage proteome for specific carbohydrate-binding molecules. University of Alberta ‘Omics Conference, Edmonton, Canada.
- Sacher, J. C., Simpson, D. J., Javed, M. A., Arutyunov, D., and Szymanski, C. M. (2013) Development of a high-throughput assay for the identification of bacteriophage receptor binding proteins. R.E. Peter Biology Conference, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
- Sacher, J. C., Simpson, D.J., Javed, M.A., Arutyunov, D., and Szymanski, C.M. (2012) Identification of Campylobacter bacteriophage receptor binding proteins. Canadian Campylobacter Workshop, Ottawa, Canada.
Blogs & editorials
10/2018 - present: Capsid & Tail Newsletter/Blog
- Managed writing, editing and publishing of weekly articles in Capsid & Tail, Phage Directory’s microperiodical, which covers phage news, jobs and research
- 245 articles published as of 2023-11-14
01/2023: Investing in the future of phage therapy. Invited Viewpoint for GARDP REVIVE: Advancing Antimicrobial R&D.
01/2019: A Bright Outlook for Bacteriophage Applications. Invited editorial for Microbiome Times, January 2019.
11/2017: Phage Directory (phage.directory): An origin story, A Smaller Flea, the community blog for the International Society for Viruses of Microbes.
08/2016: Technique: Probe Phage Genomes for Host Binding Proteins, Addgene.org: The nonprofit plasmid repository. *Selected as Editor’s Choice for September 2016
Board & Advisory roles
Advisor
Tolka AI Therapeutics: Cystic fibrosis patient-led Mycobacterium phage therapeutics startup, 2022 — present
Private Partnership Officer (Elected)
International Society for Viruses of Microorganisms (ISVM) Executive Board
2019 – 2023
- Creating and maintaining strategic partnerships between the ISVM and private entities.
Scientific Advisory Board member
Phage Futures Europe 2019 and Phage Futures Congress 2020
2019 – 2020
- Consulted on speaker selection, evaluated scientific posters, moderated sessions.