Inflammatory Bowel Disease

BIOGRAPHY

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

The gastrointestinal tract is one of the major sites of immunological challenge to the host immune system. Here the host must be able to mount protective immune responses against invading pathogenic micro-organisms while, at the same time specifically not activating these mechanisms in response to dietary antigens or normal enteric flora. In the intestine, therefore, perhaps more than any other organ, immune reactivity must be tightly regulated to ensure induction of protective and not pathologic responses.

The research interests of the group involve characterization of the cellular and molecular pathways that control intestinal homeostasis and how these break down in inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer.

Main areas of research:
- Analysis of innate responses to intestinal bacteria and how these influence the adaptive immune response
- Characterization of intestinal dendritic cell subsets and their contribution to tolerance and immunity in the gut
-Regulatory T cells and their induction, specificity and function in the intestine
- Identification of cytokines and downstream signaling pathways that promote intestinal inflammation with particular emphasis on the IL-23/Th-17 immune axis
- Susceptibility genes that control bacteria-driven colon cancer