Engineered bacteria can consume tumors from the inside out

A research team led by the University of Waterloo is developing a novel tool to treat cancer by engineering hungry bacteria to literally eat tumors from the inside out. "Bacteria spores enter the tumor, finding an environment where there are lots of nutrients and no oxygen, which this organism prefers, and so it starts eating those nutrients and growing in size," said Dr. Marc Aucoin, a chemical engineering professor at Waterloo. "So, we are now colonizing that central space, and the bacterium is essentially ridding the body of the tumor."