Benjamin Chan
{{short description|American Scientist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| image = Benjamin Chan Profile.jpg
| name = Benjamin Chan
| birth_place = Salt Lake City, Utah
| workplaces = Yale University
| known_for = Phage Therapy
| website = {{URL|http://www.benjaminchanphd.com}}
}}
Benjamin K. Chan ({{zh|t=陳家明}}) is a research scientist at Yale University in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.{{Cite web | url=https://eeb.yale.edu/people/research-scientists |title = Research Scientists | Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology}} He was born in 1980 to a U.S. Asian father, an engineer, and an American mother. He is known for his work in phage therapy exploiting genetic trade-offs to treat antibiotic resistant bacterial infections. He currently lives in Guilford, Connecticut.
Phage therapy
In January 2016, Chan treated an antibiotic resistant infection of a Dacron aortic graft caused by the superbug Pseudomonas aeruginosa,{{Cite journal|last1=Narayan|first1=Deepak|last2=Elefteriades|first2=John A.|last3=Mojibian|first3=Hamid R.|last4=Kim|first4=Samuel|last5=Turner|first5=Paul E.|last6=Chan|first6=Benjamin K.|date=2018-01-01|title=Phage treatment of an aortic graft infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa|journal=Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health|volume=2018|issue=1|pages=60–66|doi=10.1093/emph/eoy005|pmc=5842392|pmid=29588855}} this treatment reinvigorated phage therapy in Western medicine. Following this successful treatment, a second case of superbug infection was treated by Chan and others at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. This case involved use of nebulized phage to treat a multidrug resistant lung infection in Paige Rogers, a woman with cystic fibrosis{{Cite web|url=https://www.freethink.com/articles/paige-and-the-virus-hunter|title=Paige and the Virus Hunter|date=2018-11-28|website=Freethink|access-date=2019-03-11}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/azeenghorayshi/phage-therapy-follow-this|title=This Scientists Used Live Viruses To Save A Woman's Life From A Superbug Infection|website=BuzzFeed News|date=12 November 2018 |access-date=2019-03-11}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/jan-12-2019-medieval-woman-painters-houseplants-eat-pollution-viruses-that-kill-superbugs-and-more-1.4972835/viruses-that-kill-superbugs-could-save-lives-when-antibiotics-don-t-work-1.4972845|title=Viruses that kill superbugs could save lives when antibiotics don't work {{!}} CBC Radio|last1=Jan 12|first1=CBC Radio · Posted|last2=January 11|first2=2019 12:00 PM ET {{!}} Last Updated|website=CBC|access-date=2019-03-11}} and the research involved was featured in the Netflix series, "Follow This." He has since been featured in documentaries produced by Vice,{{Cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/bacteriophages-phage-therapy-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria/|title=Viruses Are the Antibiotics of the Future|last1=Koebler|first1=Jason|last2=Oberhaus|first2=Daniel|date=2017-12-07|website=Motherboard|access-date=2019-03-22}} Freethink,{{Citation|title=Fighting Superbugs with Viruses|date=2018-11-27|url=https://www.freethink.com/videos/paige-s-phages|access-date=2019-03-22}} and BBC One.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0c1nl68|title=BBC One - The Truth About..., Antibiotics|website=BBC|access-date=2019-03-22}} Following the publication of his first two cases, Chan and others have since treated multiple infections at Yale New Haven Hospital successfully.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/02/26/health/ap-us-med-antibiotic-alternatives.html|title=Using 1 Germ to Fight Another When Today's Antibiotics Fail|agency=Associated Press|date=2019-02-26|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-03-11|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.biospace.com/article/bacteriophages-new-approaches-when-antibiotics-fail/|title=Bacteriophages to the Rescue: A Possible Approach to Antibiotic Resistance|website=BioSpace|access-date=2019-03-11}}
References
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Category:Yale University faculty
Category:American evolutionary biologists
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:21st-century American biologists