According to the 1.O'Neill Report an extra 10 million lives are being lost annually due to the global antimicrobial resistance crisis. Urgent action is needed and novel approaches must be investigated. This project therefore will focus on isolating and characterising novel bacteriophages (phages) from environmental sources, and creating cocktails of phages to target 200 strains of MDR Staphyococcus aureus currently housed in the host's laboratory. As outlined below the efficacy of the new phages will be determined individually and collectively especially against the recalcitrant biofilm producing bacterial strains. Goals include: 1. Isolation of novel phages using pre-existing optimised laboratory techniques. 2. Determination of the individual host range properties of these phages (against 200 bacterial strains from a national collection). 3. Characterisation of the phage's thermal, pH, UV and salt resistance parameters through plaque assay techniques. 4. Creation of multiple phage cocktails and re-assessment of host range properties to determine the most effective mixture. 5. Determination of efficacy against clinically isolated biofilm producing strains. 6. Molecular analysis of phage genomes to identify and characterise the cell wall degrading lysin genes 1.Antimicrobial Resistance: Tackling a crisis for the health and wealth of nations. http://amr-review.org/publications The continuing development of antibiotic resistance by bacteria responsible for certain infectious diseases is a worrying aspect of medicine which could prove to have serious effect on the treatment of infectious diseases in the coming years. This research projects aims to look at a novel alternative approach to target infectious bacteria without the need for conventional antibiotics. This project will involve the study of Bacteriophages, which are viruses designed to infect bacteria. These phages are the most abundant life forms on earth and are nature's way of controlling bacterial populations. Using traditional laboratory techniques it is relatively easy to isolate and purify these phages and propagate them in a way that they can be used to kill specific bacterial populations. They are cheap, safe to work with and unlike conventional antibiotics they will only target the bacterial cell for which they are intended. Such is the potential of these tiny bacterial viruses that they are now being employed commercially to control levels of bacteria in the food chain (Listshield, Ecoshield). Specific goals include Isolation of new phages against Staphylococcus Charcterisation of these phages (how they survive in real life clinical situations) Purification of biomolecules from these phages.