Bacteriophage resurrection: Innovative impacts in medicine, biotechnology, and environmental solutions

Discovery of bacteriophages or phages was a landmark achievement in the field of microbiology as it opened an array of opportunities in medicine, biotechnology and environmental science. In fact, phages were applied to treat important human bacterial infections prior to the exploration of antibiotics that eventually shifted the focus of scientists from phages towards antibiotics. However, the global emergence of antibiotic resistance at an alarming rate has reinforced scientific community to revive phage research as an alternative to antibiotics. Similarly, phages applications have gained popularity in the recent past in various disciplines such as gene editing, vaccine delivery, bioremediation, water purification and so on. Indeed, various innovative approaches to efficiently utilize phages have been applied to bring several benefits to the society. Thus, the current work aims to review the important stages of phage research, paying special interest to the state-of-the-art applications in the fields of medicine, biotechnology and environmental science. Such collective information provides a consolidated overview of the current landscape of phage applications, which is important to bridge the gaps resulting from the intermittent research efforts over the years, aiming to connect the diverse research findings in order to advance our understanding and application of these versatile viruses.