Half of all Crohn’s Disease (CD) patients will develop disease complications, one which is development of fibrotic strictures (fibrostenosis), leading to GI tract obstruction and severe clinical consequences. Fibrostenosis is also a serious problem for ulcerative colitis (UC) with approximately 8% incidence over the lifetime. Currently there is no clinical solution for preventing or treating fibrostenosis in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), except for surgical intervention. Therefore, there is a great unmet need to understand fibrotic complications in IBD and how to prevent and treat them.
The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation in collaboration with Takeda seeks to fund studies focused on investigating the biological mechanisms leading to, and protecting from, fibrosis in IBD. These studies should be built upon clinical observations and/or published evidence in human IBD. Particular interest will be on proposals that address one or more of the following areas:
- Pathophysiology of fibrosis and patient segmentation/endotyping based on multi-omics analysis
- Datasets and biosamples derived from demographically and ethnically diverse cohorts are also preferred.
- Evaluation of therapeutic potential of modulating specific fibrotic pathways
- Cell biological mechanisms of fibrosis
- Role of microbiome
- Multidisciplinary approaches
Letter of Intent (LOI) Application Deadline: March 30, 2023
Applications from teams with complementary expertise in IBD and fibrosis, with one lead Principal Investigator (PI, Professor, Head of Research, Associate Professor) and at least one junior Co-PI (Instructor or Assistant Professor). Both US and international researchers are encouraged to apply.
Up to $900,000 for three years ($450,000 for 1.5 years and continued funding for another 1.5 years is contingent on exceptional progress towards specified milestones).