Alumni webinar #2 Global Research Prize 2025 - Fernando Arnaiz Guerrero

Background

This new series of ITM alumni webinars features the four ITM winners of the 2025 Global Research Award. The Global Research Award is presented yearly by the Province of Antwerp to research projects of ‘master-after-master’-students of ITM and other higher education institutes. Development relevance, quality and originality of the master's theses are key in the selection. Through this award, the Province of Antwerp wants to stimulate global research.

In webinar #2, MTM alumnus and laureate Fernando Arnaiz Guerrero (Spain) will share insights from his master’s thesis, entitled 'Safety and Efficacy of Intravenous Phage Therapy for Difficult-to-treat Infections: An Individual Patient Data (IPD) Systematic Review.' Phage therapy is re-emerging as a potential alternative to antibiotics in response to the global antimicrobial resistance crisis. Systemic delivery of phages is essential for difficult-to-treat infections, and because of poor oral bioavailability, intravenous administration is critical. However, existing evidence is largely limited to single-case reports due to compassionate use constraints.

In his master’s thesis, Fernando Arnaiz Guerrero aimed to synthesise available human data on intravenous phage therapy to inform future research and clinical applications. This work is particularly significant as it represents the first systematic review to compile human data on intravenous administration of phages, a re-emerging therapeutic alternative to conventional antibiotics for managing difficult-to-treat infections.

In this webinar, Fernando will present the main findings and outcomes of his thesis and discuss his recommendations and conclusion. The Q&A session, moderated by his thesis supervisor Patrick Soentjens, will provide an opportunity to answer questions from the audience.