Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)

IBD | sitting on the toilet

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)

One in 200 Australians, including up to 10,000 children, suffer from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) – an incurable painful and disruptive disease that often requires hospitalisation and surgery. In rare cases, it can be life threatening.

What is IBD?

IBD is an overarching term for a group of chronic intestinal conditions that cause inflammation in the digestive tract including the mouth, oesophagus, stomach and the small and large intestine.

The exact cause of IBD is unknown and there is no cure. Current treatment include drugs that suppress the immune system, but these become less effective over time and can have significant side effects including leaving patients with an increased risk of colorectal cancer and lymphoma.

IBD not only impacts health, but also social and emotional wellbeing. Having IBD can cause severe disruption to a patient’s life and the isolation and stress experienced can result in anxiety and depression.

Our Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) research

Hudson Institute scientists are world-renowned specialists in the gut microbiome and are leading this game-changing area of research, including the discovery of more than 130 new gut bacteria.

By combining their expertise in immunology, clinical disease and genomics they are discovering common protective and inflammation-causing gut bacteria in IBD patients and identifying treatments to target those bacteria.

Could the microbiome- revolutionise inflammatory bowel disease treatment?

New treatment or cure. Dr Sam Forster’s team has developed a new way of taking gut samples and looking at the bacteria within normal and damaged gut tissue. Importantly, they have discovered and are testing promising bacteria that could be used to treat, or even cure IBD.

The role of gut bacteria in immune response

Investigating the role of Interferon Epsilon in gut inflammation

The role of unconventional T cells in IBD

Understanding inflammation driven by bacterial infections and dysregulated host cell death

Understanding how loss of cell death regulators causes autoinflammation and chronic gut inflammation

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) collaborators

Support for people with Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)

Hudson Institute scientists cannot provide medical advice.
Find out more about inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

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