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CCFA awards grant to researcher studying how immune system can prevent IBD
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The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America has awarded a $300,000 Career Development Award to Benoit Chassaing, MD, assistant professor at the Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Georgia State University, for his research on how the immune system may be able to prevent inflammatory bowel disease, according to a press release.
Chassaing “will study how the adaptive immune system, which protects the body against pathogens, can control intestinal bacteria to prevent inflammation in the gut,” according to the press release. While prior research has focused on the causes of alterations in the gut microbiome, Chassaing’s study aims to find a way to activate the mucosal immune system to reduce inflammation promoting bacteria.
Microbiome-based approaches to treating IBD are currently “not well developed,” according to the press release.
“I hypothesize that vaccination with specific bacterial components can be used to modify the intestinal microbiota in a way to make it less susceptible to drive intestinal inflammation,” Chassaing said in the press release. “If proven correct, the project would advance a novel approach to prevent and/or treat IBD.”