The CSIBD is a multidisciplinary program to define fundamental mechanisms underlying Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis and is sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
The Center for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease encompasses investigators at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), the Broad Institute, and allied institutions pursuing digestive disease research that yields insight into IBD pathogenesis. In a natural extension of IBD research, the CSIBD is additonally emphasizing consequences of chronic inflammation during IBD, primarily colorectal cancer. Secondary priorities include gut–liver communication and tissue programs common to gut and liver inflammation. Since its formation in 1991, the CSIBD has served as a nexus of basic science, clinical translation, and patient impact by enabling multidisciplinary collaborations and catalyzing therapeutic advancements.
The success of the Center at the forefront of IBD and digestive disease research is owed to its biomedical cores, which offer technical and intellectual support for a broad spectrum of basic and applied research projects, and its investigators. The CSIBD’s multidisciplinary research community is a particular strength, as IBD arises from complex interactions between genetic, microbial, environmental, and immune factors.
The CSIBD has facilitated groundbreaking studies that lead to improved treatment options for IBD patients. This tradition includes the discovery of the TNF inhibitor etanercept and the original description of the monoclonal antibody vedolizumab by CSIBD members. More recently, Center investigators profiled over one million single cells from the guts of patients with IBD, identifying location- and cell type-specific alterations during inflammation and treatment as well as pinpointing cell types in which risk genes function. Members implicated new risk genes and rare variants in IBD, including in the largest IBD study of individuals of East Asian ancestries. Collaborations between CSIBD clinicians, biologists, and computational scientists revealed that a high-fat diet contributes to intestinal tumorigenesis by perturbing an interaction between the microbiome, intestinal stem cells, and immune cells; post-fast feeding increases intestinal stem cell proliferation and tumor formation; the transcription factor SOX17 enables immune evasion of early colorectal cancers; and different types of premalignant colorectal adenomas are associated with distinct gut microbial signatures. Center members further determined microbial factors that impact responses to biologic therapies in IBD and identified microbial enzymes associated with inactivation of mesalamine.
In addition to sharing a common research goal, CSIBD members are united through the Enrichment Program, a series of meetings and seminars that encourage interactions and attract new investigators to the study of IBD and digestive disease. The Annual CSIBD Workshop has developed into a multi-day event to host internationally renowned speakers, over half of whom travel from outside Boston to present their research to the CSIBD community.
Affiliated Institutions
Massachusetts General Hospital
The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Tufts University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Research Thrusts
CSIBD research covers a broad spectrum of basic and applied studies representing a variety of scientific perspectives united by the common theme of advancing fundamental progress in understanding IBD and digestive disease. Investigations within the CSIBD are broadly divided into six areas: (1) human genetics and physiological mechanisms, (2) the gut microbiome in health and disease, (3) cell circuits and systems biology, (4) innate and adaptive immunity, (5) chemical biology and therapeutic science, and (6) clinical translational science and patient impact.
Goals
The overall goal of the CSIBD is to promote and facilitate research that will yield insight into the causes and pathogenesis of IBD and lead to improved therapeutic approaches. This overarching objective remains unchanged since the inception of the CSIBD in 1991 and has guided the Center through substantial growth and expansion, including a natural progression into exploring the consequences of chronic inflammation during IBD as well as tissue programs shared between the gut and liver during inflammation. The Center’s approach to accomplishing its goal also remains consistent: providing research support through biomedical cores and developing an outstanding research base.
The main engine of the Center continues to be the biomedical cores, which foster productivity by providing technical and intellectual support for a broad spectrum of basic and applied research in fields that are essential for fundamental progress in understanding these diseases. Equally important is the recruitment and development of investigators pursuing IBD-related research, in which complex multifactorial interactions are a constant theme.
The Center goals are to:
- Promote research in basic science areas relevant to better understanding of mucosal immune function and epithelial biology in IBD
- Advance our understanding of gut pathophysiology by examining the gut as a circuit: studying the core components of gut intra- and inter-cellular interactions that determine health and disease
- Promote the study of the pathogenesis of IBD
- Promote interactions among scientists exploring diverse fields that share relevance to IBD
- Promote translational IBD research
- Attract basic investigators to the study of IBD and mucosal immunology
- Provide an environment and mechanism to foster development of young investigators focused on IBD