Scientists can now design bacteria-killing viruses from DNA, opening a faster path to fighting superbugs.

Bacteriophages have been used as treatments for bacterial infections for more than a century. Interest in these viruses is rising again as antibiotic-resistant infections become an increasing threat to public health. Even so, progress in the field has been slow. Most research has relied on naturally occurring phages because traditional engineering methods are time consuming and difficult, limiting the development of customized therapeutic viruses.

A fully synthetic phage engineering breakthrough.