Bemidji State student isolates new lytic phage Jant with potential against tuberculosis

Bemidji State University senior Bill Ketola, working in Dr Holly LaFerriere's lab, isolated a previously uncatalogued phage from a soil sample and named it Jant. It is lytic against Mycobacterium smegmatis, a safe lab bacterium that shares many characteristics with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and kills its biofilms; future work is needed to confirm activity against M. tuberculosis. He presented the discovery at the ASM Microbe conference in Los Angeles.