Grant: Canadian Microbiome Initiative - LOI

The causes for development of chronic gastrointestinal illnesses remain uncertain. Recent studies suggest that the type of bacteria that are in the intestinal tract of people may be important in staying healthy and an imbalance of the types of bacteria is associated with development of diseases or conditions such as Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is the most common incurable chronic gastrointestinal illness in children and adolescents, with up to 30% of IBD patients developing disease before adulthood. More concerning, the number of IBD cases in children appears to be on the rise. Here, we propose to perform a comprehensive analysis of the gastrointestinal tract microbial population in children with IBD. We will test the hypothesis that the composition and/or metabolic activities of this microbial population is a characteristic of the disease type, namely Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Specifically, we will compare the types of microbes that are present right in the intestinal tract of those patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis from otherwise healthy children without these conditions using cutting edge technologies. This study will define a microbial "fingerprint" for each of these illnesses and will significantly increase our understanding of the role of the gut microbial population in the maintenance of health and/or development of disease. In turn, the gained knowledge could be used to guide future research aimed at manipulating the gut microbial population to treat disease or maintain human health.