Third-year microbiology and immunology student Ritwik Kumar is changing the game in experimental therapeutics. His research explores the use of bacteriophages – naturally occurring viruses that infect bacteria and not human cells – as an innovative alternative to antibiotics, bringing a more effective treatment to the masses.

“The microbiome is a complex ecosystem shaped by diverse relationships among organisms, and the interactions between bacteria and bacteriophages are an integral part, helping to maintain a stable microbiome,” says Kumar, who spent his adolescence in Irvine. “However, when opportunistic bacteria begin disrupting this ecosystem, intervention is needed. Normally, antibiotics are the answer, but this leads to bacteria evolving to resist them. Now antibiotic resistance is more widespread, and an alternative is needed.”

While he recalls a middle school lesson on genetics initially piquing his interest in biology, it was not until the COVID-19 pandemic that Kumar began to explore the health field, watching YouTube videos detailing bacteriophages. As a high school junior with a newfound fascination with microbiology, he conducted a science fair project in which he attempted to find bacteriophages for a model E. colistrain.

The project helped Kumar connect with UC Irvine’s Katrine Whiteson, associate professor of molecular biology and biochemistry and principal investigator at the Whiteson lab. He began volunteering in the lab as a high school senior, running experiments alongside undergraduate students.

Entering UC Irvine in the fall of 2022, Kumar continued with the Whiteson lab, finding the support of such mentors as postdoctoral researcher Mirjam Zund as he dove into new projects and interests related to phage biology.

While his current research remains tied to bacteriophages, his focus has since shifted toward applying phages specifically to treat antibiotic-resistant infections.

“Especially now, we’re having an increased problem with antibiotic-resistant bacteria,” Kumar says. “In 2024, there was that E. coli outbreak associated with McDonald’s slivered onions. And in 2022, pseudomonas contamination was associated with a brand of artificial tears that was causing blindness. The commonality between those cases is that the bacteria were resistant to antibiotics, making treatment extremely challenging.”

More than 39 million deaths from antibiotic-resistant infections are estimated between now and 2050. However, one of the emerging alternatives to combat this is phage therapy, which utilizes bacteriophages to target infections that are seemingly immune to antibiotics. In conjunction with physicians at UCI Health, Kumar is currently coordinating an interdisciplinary effort to initiate phage therapy within the UC Irvine healthcare system. This collaboration is supported by a Pilot Award from the Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute.

“We’re focused on chronic infections. With these, you can have a patient improve using antibiotics for a month or two, but what really matters is whether, in six months or a year, they get the same infection back,” Kumar says.

He and his team – comprising UC Irvine junior Kathrine Tadros, UC Riverside undergraduate volunteer Elizabeth Duong and medical graduate volunteer Dr. Alexandra Cirpean – are conducting experiments to discover and manufacture phages to be administered to patients with chronic antibiotic-resistant infections.

Expected to begin in March, the treatment will mark the first use of phage therapy at UC Irvine.

Outside the lab, Kumar works as a marketing and events student assistant in the Charlie Dunlop School of Biological Sciences’ Office of the Dean, aiding in the development and execution of universitywide events. He also spends his Sundays along L.A.’s Skid Row with Wound Walk, a street medical team that provides care to the unhoused population in Southern California.

After graduating from UC Irvine, Kumar intends to further his education, pursuing an M.D.-Ph.D. to expand upon his interests in phage therapy and antibiotic resistance. In the future, he says, he hopes to work in an academic hospital where he can continue translating bench research into patient care.

“Wanting to save the world – that’s unreasonable,” Kumar says. “However, being able to benefit one life or make someone’s day just slightly less inconvenient due to an illness is the biggest motivator.”

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