A Local Hospital Will Use Poop to Fight Cancer

MD Anderson Cancer Center teams up with a pharmaceutical company in using fecal matter to enhance immunotherapy.

Pranoti Sahasrabhojane, clinical studies supervisor, left, Aaliyah Maldonado, research data coordinator, and Nadim Ajami, executive director of Scientific Research, and Jennifer Wargo, professor of Surgical Oncology and Genomic Medicine, and the leader of the Platform for Innovative Microbiome and Translational Research, are shown in the lab at the MD Anderson South Campus Research Building Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, in Houston. Melissa Phillip/Staff Photographer at Houston Chronicle.

A new method is underway in the fight against cancer. A team of scientists in partnership with Federation Bio pharmaceuticals are on a mission to turn poop matter into medicine. Their goal is to enhance the effects of immunotherapy by using fecal matter to create a synthetic material that can be manufactured on a large scale. Dr. Jennifer Wargo, leader of this initiative, found previous success with a correlation between skin cancer and gut bacteria. The drug development process will take years but Dr. Wargo believes that the team’s research will add benefits beyond the cancer arena.

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