Co-Chairs: Subra Kugathasan, Steve Brant & Jake McCauley

This study was established in 2021 as part of an NIDDK IBDGC initiative to further explore genetic factors associated with IBD especially in individuals of diverse ancestries. Specifically, to identify the genetic, environmental, and immunological components that contribute to the development of IBD in individuals of African-American and Hispanic ancestry.

Objectives:

1. To better understand the genetics of IBD in diverse populations.

2. To leverage existing clinical resources and use a variety of clinical, genetic, and genomic analysis to better understand and define the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to the pathogenesis of IBD in African-Americans and Hispanics.

3. To develop a biorepository of bio-samples for future use that is directly related to IBD pathogenesis and drug discoveries.

Co-Chairs: John Rioux & Mark Silverberg

This is a multifaceted study that investigates clinical response to some of the most commonly prescribed treatments for Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, commonly known as biologics. By linking clinical information, biosamples and genetic data from both retrospective and prospective cohorts, this study aims to understand why certain IBD patients are able to achieve remission while other patients struggle to find the best treatment option.

Objectives:

1. Prospectively recruit patients prior to initiating biologic therapy and assess disease progression over time after initiating biologic therapy.

2. Utilize existing data and biosamples from previous IBDGC longitudinal studies to assess drug response.

3. Obtain retrospective FFPE blocks from  multiple health centers to perform histology and imaging mass cytometry and determine effects of various biologics on patients' immune response.

Co-Chairs: Dermot McGovern & Judy Cho

A number of significant technological advances in spatial technology, single cell transcriptomics, imaging and machine learning algorithms over the last couple of years has led the IBDGC to form a working group of clinicians, researchers and experts in the field to utilize the vast resources of tissue specimens collected at each institution. Combining multi-omic approaches is a powerful tool that will lead to rapid advancements in the field.

Objectives:

1. To leverage and consolidate existing intestinal tissue blocks at various institutions along with corresponding clinical and demographic data.

2. To perform single cell whole transcriptome and in situ spatial analysis on tissue blocks of interest with a focus on IBD-specific genes.

3. To employ the latest computation analysis tools and gain insight into the disease pathology of Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis.

Adopted as a consortium-wide study in 2014, this study aims to follow Crohn's Disease patients that have undergone ileal resection surgery. The longitudinal nature of this study involves tracking disease progression as documented in subsequent endoscopies. Tissue biopsies, serum samples and fully-characterized phenotype data are obtained at these visits.  One already published (link below) and several upcoming publications will result from this study:

• RNAseq (expected in 2024)

• Diet study (expected 2024)

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the genetics and environmental factors associated with inflammation in the intestine, or more specifically the colon, typically observed with ulcerative colitis (UC). In addition to being longitudinal and having a wealth of samples and information, this study has the benefit of having organoids made from intestinal biopsies from each patient at each time point. There are currently no publications associated with this dataset, though there are plans for publishing the following in the coming years:

• Multiomic GEX-ATAC (expected 2025)