Hello! For those of you who don't know, my name is Craig. My fellow citizen scientists in the Bay Area and I are launching our project aimed at monitoring and *eradicating antibiotic resistant gonorrhea using Phage Therapy*. We need your support! We are nearly ready to begin our screening program and are bootstrapping the project as we speak! Please read the following information and let us know how you would like to help. If you are able to contribute funds (i.e. support our laboratory rental fees, help us purchase equipment, reagents or supplies, or support the screening of individual patients, please contribute through our online WePay campaign. If you would like to contribute by lending your time, talent, or expertise, please feel free to reply to this e-mail! WePay campaign: http://www.wepay.com/donations/gonorrhea-eradication-team Project Site: http://www.sudoroom.org/wiki/Phage_therapy *About us:* We are a volunteer group of experienced citizen scientists working to foster healthy communities through innovative medical research. Our team includes PhD and Masters-level microbiologists, immunologists and cellular biologists. Together, we are taking on our first major project: the eradication of antibiotic resistant gonorrhea! We would like to work with you to: (1) Implement an on-the-street Gonorrhea screening program; (2) Provide a consistent feed of data that is open to the public (open-access); and (3) develop novel, phage therapies for the treatment of antibiotic resistant Gonorrhea. *Why Antibiotic Resistant Gonorrhea?* Since the 1970s, the bacterial pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Gonorrhea) has been developing resistance to 3rd generation antibiotics. These antibiotics are the last line of defense against gonorrheal infection. Antibiotic resistant Gonorrhea is therefore a growing public health concern. In the United States, this concern is exacerbated by the fact that primary treatments for gonorrheal infections are solely antibiotic-based. It is crucial to continuously monitor antibiotic resistant Gonorrhea while researching and developing new, non-antibiotic treatment regimens. *Screening and Phage Therapy* Patients who participate in free Gonorrhea screenings will have their private results within 24 hours. The results will be available online through our data reporting system. Patients will enter in their Patient ID and self-generated passphrase to obtain their status. publish results detailing the incidence and prevalence of the emerging antibiotic resistant strains of gonorrhea. Upon receiving results, patients will be counseled as to how to seek treatment. Positive results will be reported (anonymously) to the Center for Disease Control and positive samples will be grown in our laboratory. From these samples we will harvest and characterize the viruses that infect Gonorrhea. Bacterial viruses (bacteriophages or phages: viruses that infect only bacteria) are present in all species of bacteria and when active, have the potential to kill or 'shut down' their bacterial host. Infecting Gonorrhea with its own bacteriophage causes the bacteria to die. While gonorrhea is fighting its phage infection, your body will have time to generate a natural immune response to your gonorrhea infection. Bacteriophage therapy is already being used for other infectious diseases including tuberculosis and with your commitment, we can make this new gonorrhea treatment a reality! There are many ways to participate in this project! By contributing funds you can either support our lab rental, fund our equipment and reagent purchases, or fund our screening program. You can also participate by coming to our weekly meetings and lending your scientific brain to the project. Here's to making the world healthier! Craig Rouskey On Fri, Jun 28, 2013 at 3:42 PM, Marina Kukso <marina.kukso(a)gmail.com>wrote;wrote: