Samuel Kilcher

This paper develops a CRISPR-Cas9-based platform for engineering Twortvirinae phages to create reporter phages for detecting Staphylococcus aureus in clinical and environmental samples.

The paper develops a computational pipeline to integrate antimicrobial payloads into bacteriophages by identifying optimal genomic loci using machine learning, validated experimentally with bioluminescent reporter genes.

This study investigates the role of SV isoforms of the staphylococcal phage φ2638A endolysin during infection, showing they form heterodimers with the full-length endolysin to enhance lytic activity.