Principal Investigators Edward Filardo, PhD (Department of Surgery, photo at right) and Ashu Mangalam, PhD (Department of Pathology) were awarded a seed grant award from the Center for Biocatalysis and Bioprocessing (CBB) at the University of Iowa. The grant, entitled Harnessing gut microbiome-mediated metabolism of the natural isoflavone daidzein to treat breast cancer, will explore the role of dietary estrogens in breast cancer. Although natural estrogens are known to promote certain forms of breast cancer, the impact of dietary estrogens, such as isoflavones has not been fully explored. Since intestinal bacteria are needed to metabolize isoflavones into active estrogenic metabolites, including daidzein, the composition of the gut microbiome can greatly influence this process. In addition, it is unclear whether isoflavone estrogenic metabolites can serve a cancer protective or promoting role. This proposal by Drs. Filardo and Mangalam is a cross-disciplinary study spanning microbial pathogenesis, molecular endocrinology and pharmacology. Total funding for this award is $35,000 and the one year project started August, 2018.