Scientific Research

Microbiome Program

Human beings live in symbiosis with a very abundant diversity of bacteria, and we are learning more and more how this alliance shapes our health, and also how its imbalance influences diseases. This community of bacteria is called the “microbiome”, and recent work tells us that its imbalance can have consequences on the development and progression of cancers, and the effectiveness of therapies.

The project

Funding of the Institute: Over $ 382,000

Thanks to the vision and significant investments of the Institut du cancer de Montréal, we were able to acquire state-of-the-art equipment to consolidate the work on the microbiome of the teams of Manuela Santos and Réjean Lapointe, and above all, recruiting Dr Bertrand Routy, whose work on the microbiome is revolutionizing clinical practice in oncology. He has, for example, shown that taking antibiotics affects the microbiome as expected, but can consequently neutralize the effectiveness of treatment of cancer patients with immunotherapy.

Our work also focuses on re-establishing a microbiome favorable to anti-cancer treatments. Also, we must underline the major support of the Institute, the tissue and data bank in lung cancer ( more than $ 300,000 ); an essential resource for studying the microbiome and more. So, as any microbiologist says; bacteria are our friends!

Researchers involved: