Grant: Operating Grant-PA: INMD Start Up Funds (bridge funding) - Assistant Professors

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes Crohn's Disease and ulcerative colitis, is caused by inflammation along the gastrointestinal tract. This leads to symptoms that include pain, nausea, and diarrhea. The cause of disease is not known and so current treatments rely on non-specific immune suppression to try to block the inflammatory response. These treatments are not effective in about 10% of people with IBD and it is predicted that up to 40% of people with IBD will stop responding to these treatments eventually. A better understanding of the cause(s) of IBD is necessary so that we can develop new and more effective treatments for people living with disease. My laboratory has developed a new genetic model of IBD that mimics several features of disease that are not seen in other models. Using our new model, we have found that a type of white blood cell, called a macrophage, is critical in intestinal disease. Macrophages play a key role in our bodies' defense against infections but they can also contribute to inflammation in diseases, like IBD. In the studies proposed here, we will investigate which features of macrophages contribute to intestinal disease and target those features to see if we can prevent or block disease. These studies will provide critical information about fundamental causes of IBD and our strategies to target macrophages and their functions may provide new therapeutic options that we can use to treat people with IBD.