Grant: Canadian Microbiome Initiative - LOI

Building on previous work by our group exploring the gut microbiome in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and drawing on our established cohort of subjects enrolled in genetic and biomarker studies of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), IBD and healthy controls, we will broaden our program to explore the potential that the gut microbiome is implicated in various autoimmune diseases affecting different organ systems (IBD, RA, ankylosing spondylitis, and multiple sclerosis). Further, we will determine if there are specific gut Toll-like receptor ligands in the microbiome distinct to the individual disease types. We will explore the microbiome in the context of health and specific disease types, and also in the context of ethnicity (First Nation vs. Caucasian), dietary ingestion, smoking, and medication use. Bioinformatics will be required to integrate the multiple variables and provide a platform for analysis.