Helicobacter pylori Genome sequencing and assembly

The main cause of gastric cancer is infection of the stomach with a bacterium, Helicobacter pylori, which occurs in more than half of the people in the world, and is especially common in Latin America and represents a major concern in Hispanic immigrants to the United States. Population eradication of Helicobacter pylori with antibiotic treatment is not feasible, does not always eradicate the infection, does not sufficiently reduce cancer risk once stomach pathology reaches a pre-cancerous stage, and has been associated with the causation of other diseases; thus there is a pressing need for new approaches to this problem. This project aims to study human subjects in Colombia and Central America and establish the molecular basis for predicting cancer risk, including the genetics of the human host and the infecting bacteria, the presence of other bacteria in the stomach and infection with parasites, and specific responses in the stomach that may lead to cancer, all with the goal of devising new interventions to prevent cancer in persons at the highest risk in the USA, Latin America, and around the world.