Citizen Phage Library Genome sequencing and assembly

The Citizen Phage Library (CPL) is a pilot project that leverages citizen science to accelerate a national capability for phage therapy to combat MDR infections. Citizen scientists collect environmental samples and register them on the CPL web portal, with associated metadata (e.g. geolocation, sample type, environment type). The samples are then shipped, processed to remove bacteria and used for isolation of phages against MDR pathogens. Following isolation, phages are sequenced and analysed to identify those that are exclusively lytic and contain no genes associated with toxin production or antimicrobial resistance genes. The CPL portal allows tracking and reporting of progress at each step to keep the citizen scientists engaged and informed. All processes and technologies are designed to be as low cost as possible to facilitate replication of the CPL in low-income nations.