Wendy S. Garrett
Harvard University, MA·Microbiology & Immunology
Colorectal cancer is the second deadliest cancer in the United States, and the mix of bacteria living in the gut appears to shape who develops it and how it progresses. One bacterium stands out: Fusobacterium nucleatum, a normal resident of the human mouth that is found enriched in colon tumors, in precancerous growths called adenomas, and in stool from people with colorectal cancer.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Biology
- Topics
Fusobacterium nucleatum
colorectal cancer
gut microbiome
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2027
What they work on
- Test whether hydrogen sulfide made by Fusobacterium nucleatum, a gas-phase bacterial metabolite, alters colon lining cells and immune cells in the developing tumor environment, using preclinical mouse models of colorectal cancer.
- Determine how short-chain fatty acids, metabolic products released by F. nucleatum, signal to the colonic epithelium and to tumor-associated immune cells during colorectal carcinogenesis.
- Define the contribution of fusobacterial Fic proteins, bacterial enzymes that chemically modify host proteins, to tumor promotion, moving beyond the adhesins and lipopolysaccharide that prior virulence studies emphasized.
- Assess whether these bacterial bioactivities, because they are shared with other gut microbes, also influence tumors that lack F. nucleatum, extending findings to Fusobacterium-negative colorectal cancer and other malignancies.
More about the research
Patients whose tumors carry more of it tend to have worse survival and respond less well to chemotherapy. The central question here is which specific activities of this microbe actually contribute to tumor development, as opposed to simply being present.
Why it matters
Colorectal cancer kills tens of thousands of Americans each year, and tumors carrying Fusobacterium nucleatum are linked to shorter survival and resistance to chemotherapy. Pinpointing which bacterial products drive tumor growth could identify microbial targets to block, or markers that flag patients whose tumors are being pushed along by gut bacteria. Because the metabolites studied are made by many bacteria, insights may extend to tumors without this species.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
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Texas A&M University-College Station, TX·Microbiology & Immunology
Determine how important the secreted protein EsxA is to Streptococcus gallolyticus virulence, using bacterial mutants together with the cell culture and animal infection models established in the lab.
Maria Pena
University of South Carolina-Columbia, SC·Medicine & Clinical Research
Identify developmental windows, from before birth through childhood, when exposure to commonly prescribed pediatric antibiotics most increases colorectal cancer risk, using mouse models of colorectal cancer.
Shijie Cao
University of Washington, WA·Biomedical Engineering·Early-career
Engineer synthetic microbiome mimics: polymer nanoparticles that release bacterial metabolites and are coated with outer membrane vesicles from chosen bacterial strains, with core and shell varied independently to separate structural from metabolic signals.
The school
Harvard University: 42 labs on PI Pages, $1.5B a year on research, 712 research doctorates a year.
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