Bacteria-Fighting Viruses Propel Emerging New Zealand Scientist To International Recognition

A team of New Zealand scientists has published research in the renowned international journal, Nature, after collaborating far and wide to tell the story of a microscopic arms race.

First author, Postdoctoral fellow Dr Nils Birkholz (University of Otago) studies bacteria-fighting viruses called phages, which are being widely considered as the next step to controlling antibiotic-resistant bacteria in food production and human health.

He says publishing in such a prestigious journal was thanks to the collaborative approach the team took once they had the first results.

“We approached other research groups to see how we could increase the impact of the story,” Nils says, “Now we have lots of different methods and approaches in it, and I think that is one of the aspects that made it so interesting for a journal like Nature.

“It was definitely quite challenging to combine all that together and make a coherent story out of it, but it is worth it.”

Nils’ supervisor Professor Peter Fineran (University of Otago), who directed the project, helped pull in scientists from Germany, USA, the UK and New Zealand to contribute to the research.

Peter says having “more than a rugby team” of authors all working on one project is a stark contrast to how scientists did things when he was early on in his career.

“It was more the old way of doing things which was more ‘your PhD is your project’ . . . you would have to learn every new technique you wanted to use. Collaboration means you can get much more impactful, interdisciplinary science done.”

“This publication is a great outcome,” Peter says, “The world is Nils’ oyster now. This will open up many exciting career opportunities for him.”

Nils hopes the international stage will see this research inspire other scientists, whose work can build on the different aspects of their new publication.

He says “In the context of using phages in agriculture to fight plant pathogens, this research will hopefully contribute to that. But our discovery of a new mechanism of gene regulation is especially interesting for fundamental research.

This research was co-funded by Bioprotection Aotearoa: a national Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE), dedicated to developing future bioprotection leaders through pioneering, multi-disciplinary research to address biological threats to the environment.

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