Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affects one in 250 people aged between five and 40, including up to 10,000 children. It is an incurable painful and disruptive disease that often requires hospitalisation and surgery. In rare cases, it can be life threatening.
Approximately 25 per cent of patients present before the age of 20, yet there is no cure and they suffer their entire lives.
The gut microbiome is thought to play a key role in IBD, yet direct understanding of key bacterial groups that drive disease remains elusive.
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.
Inflammation driving inflammatory bowel disease
The role of gut bacteria in immune response
Molecular studies. Naturally occurring gut bacteria or microbiota can provide health benefits or cause disease, depending on the circumstance. Through this research Dr Sam Forster aims to identify when these bacteria represent a risk and should be removed, and when they could be beneficial and should be added to induce a positive immune response.Investigating the role of Interferon Epsilon in gut inflammation
Molecular studies. A healthy intestine maintains a balance between the immune system and the microbiome. IBD is a permanent disruption of this balance. Dr Edward Giles is exploring the role of the protein Interferon Epsilon in the microbiome – its role in health and inflammation, intestinal infection and how it regulates intestinal immune responses.The role of unconventional T cells in IBD
Molecular studies. Immune cells called ‘lymphocytes’ sit within the gut wall and are mostly a known as ‘gamma delta’ T cells. This research is examining the role of these unconventional cells and why they play a critical early role in microbiome response.Understanding how loss of cell death regulators causes autoinflammation and chronic gut inflammation
Molecular studies. Dr Kate Lawlor’s research is investigating the link between how the immune system responds to cell death and inflammation, and how this contributes to IBD.Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) news
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) collaborators
- Monash Health
- Monash University
- Royal London Hospital
- Queen Mary University of London
- Massachusetts General Hospital
- Harvard Medical School
- Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge
- Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland
- Technische Universität München
- Imperial College London
- Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
- Melbourne University
Explore our labs
Support for people with Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
Hudson Institute scientists cannot provide medical advice.
Find out more about inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Keep up-to-date with our latest discoveries
