• Home
• Research
• Diseases we research

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.

Team | Associate Professor Samuel Forster, Dr Edward Giles

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.

Team | Associate Professor Samuel Forster, Professor Paul Hertzog

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.

Team | Dr Edward Giles, Associate Professor Jaclyn Pearson

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.

Team | Dr Edward Giles 

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.

Team | Associate Professor Kate Lawlor

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

Support for people with Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)

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

• Crohn’s and Colitis Australia

Keep up-to-date with our latest discoveries

Email

Lead Source –None– Website Web-To-Lead – General Website Web-To-Lead – Endo Website Web-To-Lead – POP Digital – Facebook Digital – Google Digital – Instagram Digital – Linkedin Event Web Phone Inquiry Partner Referral Purchased List Other Mailchimp Migration Employee Referral Word of mouth