“OASI-TN – Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer Observatory: awareness, screening, and risk factors - CUP E63C26000830007” and “PROSPECT – G.A. CGCATF-2023/100041 - CUP E63C23002200007”

The research is part of the CGC Award project "PATHWAYS, RISK FACTORS, AND MOLECULES TO PREVENT EARLY-ONSET COLORECTAL TUMORS (PROSPECT)." The initiative aims to decipher and address the complex system of causal factors that favour the onset of colorectal cancer (CRC) in individuals under 50 years of age by altering the biological balance. The researcher will need to implement and apply an ecosystem of computational metagenomic tools on existing case-control CRC studies expanded with additional samples from the PROSPECT study to i) identify EOCRC microbiome biomarkers; ii) evaluate the transmissibility of EOCRC biomarkers and risk factors; iii) evaluate the potential of diet-based microbiome modulation to reduce EOCRC risk; and (iv) investigate the role of specific genotoxic components (e.g., colibactin) in the onset of EOCRC from metagenomic data. [...]