Gastrointestinal (GI) health is essential for overall body health. Inflammatory insults to the GI mucosa often cause profound and irreversible changes of GI homeostasis, including disrupted enteric neural regulation and subsequent alteration of GI function. Mucosal inflammation causes irreversible structural changes of the enteric nervous system (ENS), demonstrating a strong linkage between inflammation and GI […]
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is less common in parts of the world with parasitic worm infections than in the developed world. Understanding why may lead to new types of therapy. We recently found that infection by parasitic worms increases the number of beneficial anti-inflammatory Clostridiales bacteria in the intestine, and that these bacteria can outcompete […]
So far, most research on the microbiome in IBD has mostly focused on gut bacteria. However, there is increasing evidence to support that other members of the microbiome, such as viruses, may also have an important role. Herein we plan to study the role of viral exposures in IBD development. A major challenge of this […]
Patients suffering from IBD, especially UC, are at an increased risk of the life-threatening colorectal cancer, and early detection is critical. The standard of care for prevention and early treatment is to inspect the colon with white-light endoscopy, however, the appearance of the tissue is often insufficient for early identification of cancer. While the intensity […]
Environmental factors are thought to contribute to the development of a range of human diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Interestingly, the incidence of IBD is higher in patients with autism, compared to those without. We propose that inflammation to which a developing embryo may be exposed in the maternal […]
Adherent-invasive Escherichia coli (AIEC), a pathogenic form of E. coli, is known to accumulate in the intestinal mucosa of patients with Crohn’s disease (CD). Although it is believed that AIEC exacerbates the disease by promoting intestinal inflammation, the precise mechanism underlying the abnormal expansion of AIEC in the intestinal mucosa remains largely unknown. We have […]
The goal of the proposed research is to develop a laboratory model of Crohn’s disease (CD), “Crohn’s Disease-on-a-Chip”. We mimic the microstructure and physiological function of human intestine by integrating tools developed in a microchip computer technology, tissue engineering, and clinical microbiology. We have a platform technology to maintain viable human intestinal cells in a […]
Many genetic factors have been associated with increased IBD susceptibility. However, these only explain a fraction of the disease risk that an individual with such a predisposition experiences. Environmental factors have been proposed to work in combination with host genetics to cause IBD. Diet and the normally beneficial community of bacteria that live in the […]
