Mission statement
The research program of Center for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease is organized around the central hypothesis that Inflammatory Bowel Disease results from activation by luminal bacteria or their products of dysregulated chronic immune response due to genetically determined alterations of epithelial cell and/or immune function including a lack of appropriate downregulatory functions. Major advances made possible by the CSIBD in the years since its inception include the development and characterization of genetic mouse models of inflammatory bowel disease, delineation of mechanisms of lymphocyte activation and leukocyte recruitment to sites of inflammation, characterization of mechanisms of innate immune response, identification of key peptides involved in sustaining mucosal integrity, characterization of the mechanisms of mucosal healing following injury, improved understanding of the regulation of epithelial function and mucosal immune responses and the delineation of the mechanisms of mucosal:microbial interaction.
History of CSIBD
The Center for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (CSIBD) was established in January of 1991 and over the past nineteen years it has created a substantial expansion of IBD-oriented research at the MGH and its other affiliated institutions. Its founding superseded a program project initially developed among a relatively small group of investigators at the MGH and the New England Regional Primate Research Center (NERPRC) which served as a nidus of IBD research with particular emphasis on the characterization of chronic colitis in the Cotton-top tamarin. This program served as a foundation for the development of the CSIBD as a more comprehensive approach to supporting and expanding IBD-related research. The goals of the center since it's inception have been the support for a broader spectrum of basic and applied research in fields recognized to be essential for fundamental progress in understanding these diseases and the development of young investigators committed to IBD-related research.
There has been significant evolution of the CSIBD investigator base. Beyond the overall growth in participating investigators from forty-four at the inception of the Center to over seventy-two at present, the Center has enhanced the experience of many post-doctoral trainees in participating laboratories who are now productive investigators within the CSIBD or at other research centers. CSIBD serves as a powerful adjunct to training of investigators who have sustained and expanded the CSIBD itself, as it promotes the field more broadly. After fourteen years thirty-one of the original Center investigators remain active in the Center, including all but one of the Core directors and key personnel participating at the time of the last competing renewal. Importantly it continues to serve as a magnet for new investigators (ranging from junior to more well-established) with relevant research interests.
Structure
Our Center encompasses seventy-two investigators at the Massachusetts General Hospital and allied institutions, and its mission is to support research aimed at understanding and cure of inflammatory bowel diseases. This is accomplished by three components of our Center that serve the research community - Biomedical Research Cores, Pilot/Feasibility Study program and Education and Training. These Center activities are overseen by the Administrative Core, which supports and organizes these components to better serve the research base. which serve to facilitate access of investigators to the extensive scientific expertise available in those areas within the Center.
Five Biomedical Research Cores serve to facilitate access of investigators to the extensive scientific expertise in those areas within the Center:
| Clinical/Tissue Core | Molecular Biology/Genetic Analysis Core |
| Genetic Models Core | Immunology Core |
| Morphology/Microscopy Core |
PFS program Pilot/Feasibility Study awards supports new research initiatives as well as recruits new members to expand the Center. In addition to advancing the understanding of IBD per se, the goals of this Center include encouraging the development of young investigators committed to pursuing IBD research.
An enrichment program of seminars, workshops and symposia serves to bring together investigators from different institutions and to disseminate the knowledge relevant to the study of IBD.
Areas of Interest
The inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) afflict more than a million individuals in the United States. Despite extensive studies and clinical experience over the past several decades, the etiologic factors responsible for these disorders remain substantially uncertain and understanding of their pathogenesis remains incomplete. As a result, therapy continues to be primarily aimed at the non-specific suppression of inflammation.
However, it is now possible to formulate an overall hypothesis of IBD. Direct stimulation of the epithelium or penetration by the luminal flora (or their products), due to alterations in the epithelial mucosal barrier, result in disruption of the normal tolerant state of the intestinal immune system achieved through balance of innate and adaptive mechanisms; the phenotype of the predominant lymphocyte population is a key variable which determines the ultimate character of the resulting inflammatory disease.. Thus a Th1 lymphocyte predominant response eventuates in Crohns inflammation while a Th2 (or Th2-like) response may lead to ulcerative colitis. Activation is enabled by a relative functional reduction in regulatory T cell populations.
The representation of the hypothesis that IBD is inherently multifactorial, resulting from genetically determined factors, but also dependent on "environmental" factors.
The research base of the CSIBD comprises a collaborative group of investigators who, in aggregate, are studying each of the key components of this composite hypothesis:
- Epithelial cell biology and mucosal barrier function
- Host-Microbial interactions
- Innate and adaptive immune responses
- Inflammatory pathways leading to IBD
