Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affects approximately 100,000 children worldwide. Existing biomarkers are not capable of detecting changes to the intestinal barrier associated with IBD. The goal of this initiative is to combine pediatric gastroenterology, mucus engineering, and systems biology to identify glycan signatures and link them to microbial communities and host cell states. Glycan profiling will enable us to study the biochemical state of the intestinal mucus barrier, which has yet to be explored in depth. This will aid physicians with distinguishing active inflammation from remission in IBD, as well as diagnosing ulcerative colitis versus Crohn’s disease, and their sub-phenotypes. In doing so, there is a potential to reveal novel disease states missed by transcriptomics or microbiome sequencing alone.

I am excited to participate in the Clinical SuperUROP program to gain a broader insight into the field of pediatric gastroenterology. This unique opportunity will allow me to directly connect what I’ve learned in the clinic to biomedical applications in the laboratory. In addition, because IBD is such a common condition, I am passionate about how widely applicable our findings could be. I would welcome the chance to make a positive impact on the IBD community.