This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Cincinnati Children's professor receives grant for IBD epigenetics research
The AGA, the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America and Janssen Biotech today announced that Theresa Alenghat, VMD, PhD, assistant professor in the division of immunobiology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, is the first recipient of the AGA-CCFA-Janssen Research Award in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Epigenetics Research.
Alenghat will receive $100,000 annually for 3 years to fund research aimed at determining the role epigenetics plays in the development of IBD, according to a press release. The award opportunity was originally announced in February 2015.
Theresa Alenghat
“With this grant, I will have the resources to conduct both basic and translational research initiatives to test how bacteria trigger changes in the epigenome during the development of IBD,” Alenghat said in the release. “These novel insights may guide the development of more effective and tailored therapeutic approaches for managing IBD.”
Alenghat’s research will aim to determine whether dysregulation of epigenomic modifications combined with changes in the microbiome contribute to IBD development and progression, the release said.
According to the release, “the promise of epigenetics comes from the knowledge that epigenomic changes regulate gene expression in response to environmental triggers without altering the genetic sequence. Therefore, epigenetics represent an important, potentially reversible, target for IBD treatments.”