Grant: Project Grant

Crohn's disease (CD) is a serious disease of the gastrointestinal tract that results in inflammation. Individuals with CD experience pain and chronic diarrhea and often, these people need to have surgery. Canada has one of the highest rates of CD in the world, and although there is evidence of inheritance in CD, environmental factors likely play a large role in triggering this disease. Previous studies have described that individuals that develop CD experience an intestinal infection prior to disease onset. In this proposal, we are interested in gathering evidence in mouse models to support the idea that an enteric (or gut) infection with a virus or a bacterium, especially during early life, might trigger disease development. We are particularly interested in infection during early life since this is a susceptible period where perturbations, like infections, might have the largest impact on gut development as well as colonization of healthy gut microbes. Overall, our findings will open up new strategies to help prevent and treat CD.