Bacteria Killers

One hundred years ago, the scientist Félix d'Herelle discovered the existence of the bacteriophage, a mysterious "bacteria-killing" virus. As antibiotics are becoming less efficient in fighting increasingly resistant bacteria, will phage therapy become the science of tomorrow?

This story takes us from the banks of the Ganges to the shores of the Black Sea in Russia and Georgia, from Paris to the United States, as it retraces the discovery of bacteriophages, viruses that only infect bacteria, destroying them by reproducing using the bacteria's own cellular mechanisms.

With antibiotics today showing signs of ineffectiveness, there is a renewed interest in phages. They are being used in clinical trials worldwide and continue to fascinate scientists.

In the fight against microbes using synthetic biology, research into phages takes us to the depths of the oceans to discover the key role they play in regulating our planet's climate.