PHIOGEN, Baylor College of Medicine and LillixBio launch AI-driven collaboration to map phage-induced immunomodulation and long-term prevention

Baylor College of Medicine is collaborating with Phiogen Inc., a pre-clinical-stage biopharma company developing bacteriophages as first-in-class immunizing therapeutics, and LillixBio LLC, a global therapeutic design company, to integrate artificial intelligence-driven immune profiling into Phiogen’s immunotherapy development pipeline. Their work will map the immune response that follows bacteriophage therapy and determine how that protection can be strengthened, extended and expanded.

Through the collaboration, LillixBio’s AI platform will identify immunomodulatory candidates predicted to amplify the immune response generated during phage-mediated bacterial lysis, beginning with E. coli, the pathogen targeted by Phiogen’s lead program PHI-UI-01 for recurrent urinary tract infections. LillixBio has delivered the first comprehensive AI-predicted major histocompatibility complex antigen presentation map for E. coli, covering all microbial proteins across the global spectrum of immune diversity. This antigen map provides a systematic framework for understanding the immunological consequences of phage therapy, an area the field has not previously addressed at this scale.

“For decades, phage therapy has focused on bacterial killing, while immune responses to phages were viewed as a limitation,” said Amanda Burkardt, CEO of Phiogen Inc. “We’re turning this model on its head where those same immune interactions may hold the key to durable protection against recurrent infection. Baylor brings expertise in phage biology, LillixBio provides AI-driven immune analytics and Phiogen provides the translational and clinical framework to turn these discoveries into dual-action therapeutics.”

Validation of the AI-generated candidates will be conducted in collaboration at Baylor’s TAILΦR (Tailored Antimicrobials and Innovative Laboratories for Phage Research), a phage biology research program with expertise in phage isolation, characterization and therapeutic development. The collaboration brings computational discovery together with established laboratory capabilities in phage adjuvantation, serology and immunological profiling across mucosal and systemic infection models.

“Stimulating the immune system in more controlled and desirable ways is the key to curing hundreds of problematic diseases,” said Dr. Anthony Maresso, professor of molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor and faculty founder of Phiogen and TAILΦR. “This science takes that first step.”

“LillixBio exists to solve one problem: for any disease and any target, determine computationally which treatment candidates are worth building and provide a sealed, auditable record of why,” said Dr. Phillip Phan, senior director of LillixBio. “This collaboration with Phiogen and Baylor College of Medicine is the first public demonstration of that capability.”