Salmonella is a causative agent of food poisoning and can be commonly found in inadequately cooked meat, raw egg and egg products. Common symptoms include vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal pain. Researchers at School of Biomedical Sciences of Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong (HKU) have recently engineered the Salmonella into an anaerobe bacterium named YB1 which can only survive and thrive in the hypoxic condition, for example, hypoxic regions inside solid tumours. YB1 can effectively inhibit the growth of tumours while being safe to normal tissues. This invention has been filed patent applications in different countries through the Technology Transfer Office of HKU. A patent was recently granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The researchers hope that YB1 can be further developed into a tumour-targeting agent in the near future.

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