Stabilization of therapeutic microbes for inclusion in a liquid matrix for delivery to the intestines

Enteral feeding (EF) patients often experience antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) due to simultaneous antibiotic dosing, with no current effective treatment. Probiotics offer a potential therapeutic strategy but suffer from degradation during storage and consumption, and current methods of adding them to EF formula are inconsistent and reduce viability. This project proposes to use VitaKey’s proprietary liquid- and EF-stable probiotic encapsulation platform, developed in Phase I, to customize and stabilize specific probiotic strains (Bacteroides fragilis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Lactobacillus plantarum). The work involves establishing mechanistic support in a mouse AAD model and developing formulations capable of withstanding pasteurization, achieving long-term shelf-stability, demonstrating clinically-relevant efficacy in a murine AAD model, and being suitable for scalable manufacturing.