IISER Kolkata develops bacteria to fight cancer

KOLKATA: A team of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata has developed a "friendly bacteria" that can safely and effectively fight cancer from within the patient's body, the premier institute said in a statement. At the same time, they are developing a detection system capable of monitoring the progress of the therapy.

Together, these innovations mark a new frontier in the combined therapeutic and diagnostic approach to cancer treatment, the IISER Kolkata said. Their project, titled ReSET (Reprogramming the Suppressive Environment of Tumour Microenvironment), tackles one of the biggest barriers in cancer therapy.

"Cancer often hides behind special immune cells called T regulatory cells (Tregs), which suppress the body's natural defence system. This makes standard therapies like immunotherapy or chemotherapy less effective," the statement said.

Following a bold and innovative approach, the IISER Kolkata team are engineering probiotics to detect tumours and disrupt the activity, reactivating the immune system against cancer.

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IISER Kolkata engineering probiotics to detect tumours

In simple words, they are converting friendly microbes into living, targeted medicines that could one day work from inside the patient's body to make cancer treatment safer and more effective, the statement elaborated.

Taking it out of the lab, the students have integrated human practices into their design by engaging with oncologists, surgeons, cancer survivors and NGOs. They also organised outreach programmes in schools, cancer awareness campaigns and collaborated with hair donors and patient support groups. These dialogues helped them shape the therapy to be scientifically sound, ethically responsible, and socially relevant. The team emphasises that their work is not only a scientific prototype but also a proof of concept that India's youth can drive world-class research.

"By targeting the Tregs pathway with engineered bacteria, we hope to bring forward a completely new class of cancer therapeutics, one that will revolutionise the way we treat cancer," the team noted. The team of 11 undergraduate students from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata will represent their institute and India at the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Grand Jamboree 2025, the world's largest synthetic biology competition to be held in Paris in October this year.