Could molecules produced by bacteria in the gut become the cancer medicines of the future? This is the question driving the research of Amir Ata Saei, Assistant Professor at Karolinska Institutet, who has now received an SSMF Starting Grant from the Swedish Society for Medical Research (SSMF) to further develop his work.
For Amir Ata Saei , at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology at KI, the grant is both recognition of his previous achievements and an opportunity to take the next step in his research career:
Photo: N/A
“Receiving an SSMF Starting Grant is a great honor and an important milestone in my scientific career. The opportunity to build and develop my own research group at Karolinska Institutet is something I have worked towards for many years. This support is particularly valuable because it provides long-term stability and scientific independence. With four years of funding, we can pursue ambitious and potentially high-risk projects that would be difficult to carry out with smaller, short-term grants,” says Amir.
The project focuses on the interaction between the gut microbiome and colorectal cancer. The intestines contain trillions of microorganisms that produce small molecules capable of affecting the body’s own cells in different ways.
“We want to investigate whether molecules produced by gut bacteria can be used as new treatments for colorectal cancer. Surprisingly little is currently known about which molecules actually affect cancer cells and how they do so. We want to understand these interactions at the molecular level,” says Amir.
Promising results from the outset
The project is based on preliminary findings that the researchers describe as highly promising:
“We have identified a bacterial fraction containing small molecules that can selectively kill colorectal cancer cells, including metastatic cancer cells, while largely leaving the healthy cells we have tested unaffected. The next major challenge is to identify the molecules responsible and understand exactly how they work,” says Amir.
However, one of the biggest challenges in biomedical research is translating a promising laboratory discovery into something that can benefit patients. According to Amir, the grant makes it possible to connect several stages of that process.
“The SSMF grant enables us to bring several steps together in a coherent research program. We can move from identifying potentially beneficial gut bacteria and their metabolites, to understanding their molecular mechanisms, testing them in patient-derived tumor models, and ultimately developing new drug candidates.”
The research group combines advanced proteomics, microbiome research, cancer biology, and artificial intelligence to identify bacteria-produced molecules, map the proteins they bind to, and explore how this knowledge can be used to develop new therapies.
“My background is in pharmaceutical science, proteomics, and cancer metabolism, and this project gives us the opportunity to combine these fields with microbiology and artificial intelligence. These methods allow us not only to identify proteins involved in cancer development, but also to study how small molecules interact with them and, in the future, design new compounds that take advantage of these interactions. Some of the most important scientific breakthroughs occur at the intersection of different disciplines,” says Amir.
Aiming to make a difference for patients
In the long term, Amir Ata Saei hopes the research will contribute to entirely new strategies for preventing and treating cancer. The need for new treatment options remains substantial, particularly for patients with advanced disease.
“Metastatic colorectal cancer remains difficult to treat, and patients urgently need new therapeutic options. In the long term, the results could also pave the way for more personalized treatments based on the molecular characteristics of a patient’s cancer and perhaps even the patient’s microbiome,” says Amir.
The knowledge generated may also have implications far beyond colorectal cancer.
“I hope that the technologies and knowledge generated through this project can also be applied to other forms of cancer and metabolic diseases,” Amir concludes.
The SSMF Starting Grant is a career establishment grant for early-career researchers in medicine. Its purpose is to enable promising researchers to establish themselves as independent research leaders and build their own research programs. The grant includes both salary funding and research operating costs and runs for four years.
/strategic-health-operations-(sho)/operations-support-logistics-(osl)/boxes-of-who-procured-medical-supplies.tmb-768v.jpg?sfvrsn=a605dcd9_1)
