Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Microbes in the mammalian gut can significantly change their hosts’ amino acid and glucose metabolism, acting almost like an extra liver, according to a new preclinical study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

Researchers at the Jill Roberts Center for IBD and the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in IBD at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian have determined that sulfasalazine works by modulating the activity of a group of gut bacteria that are more abundant in patients who respond to the drug. 

Certain gut-dwelling fungi flourish in severe cases of COVID-19, amplifying the excessive inflammation that drives this disease while also causing long-lasting changes in the immune system, according to a new study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian.

Dr. Gregory F. Sonnenberg, The Henry R. Erle, M.D.-Roberts Family Associate Professor of Medicine and head of basic research in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been awarded a $3.26 million, five-year MERIT grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, to investigate the underlying mechanisms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Dr. Iliyan D. Iliev, an associate professor of immunology in medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, co-director of the Microbiome Core and a member of the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) at Weill Cornell Medicine, is the lead investigator on a grant to Weill Cornell Medicine from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust to target pathogenic fungi in patients with Crohn’s disease.

Two Weill Cornell Medicine faculty members, Dr. Gregory Sonnenberg and Dr. Melody Zeng, are recipients of prestigious awards from the American Association of Immunologists (AAI) for their accomplishments in the field of immunology.

Innate lymphoid cells are a recently discovered family of white blood cells that reside in the skin, gastrointestinal tract, airways and other barrier tissues of the body. Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) have an essential role in protecting these tissues from parasitic infections as well as damage associated with allergic inflammation and asthma, according to a new study led by Weill Cornell Medicine researchers.

A type of dietary fiber called inulin, commonly used in health supplements and known to have certain anti-inflammatory properties, can also promote an allergy-related type of inflammation in the lung and gut, and other parts of the body.

Neurons that sense pain protect the gut from inflammation and associated tissue damage by regulating the microbial community living in the intestines, according to a study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine.

The presence of some fungal species in tumors predicts—and may even help drive—worse cancer outcomes, according to a study from Weill Cornell Medicine and Duke University researchers.

Immune cells called group 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3s) play an essential role in establishing tolerance to symbiotic microbes that dwell in the human gastrointestinal tract, according to a study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine.

Dr. Iliyan D. Iliev, an associate professor of immunology in medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and a member of the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been awarded a five-year, $1.25 million CRI Lloyd J. Old STAR (Scientists Taking Risks) Program grant from Cancer Research Institute (CRI).

A protein called Zbtb46, expressed by specialized immune cells, has a major role in protecting the gastrointestinal tract from excessive inflammation, according to a study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine.

Individual Candida albicans yeast strains in the human gut are as different from each other as the humans that carry them, and some C. albicans strains may damage the gut of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to a new study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine.

Two Weill Cornell Medicine physician-scientists, Dr. Randy Longman and Dr. Robert Schwartz, have been elected as members of the American Society for Clinical Investigation.

A specific group of fungi residing in the intestines can protect against intestinal injury and influence social behavior, according to new preclinical research by scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine.

Scientists at the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Weill Cornell Medicine have developed a pipeline that enables genetic manipulation of nonmodel gut bacteria.

A growth factor protein produced by rare immune cells in the intestine can protect against the effects of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to a new discovery from Weill Cornell Medicine researchers.

A group of immune cells that normally protect against inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract may have the opposite effect in multiple sclerosis (MS) and other brain inflammation-related conditions, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian researchers.

Loss of the gene SATB2 contributes to changes in stem cells that typically develop into the inner lining of the colon, or large intestine, transforming them into a cell type that normally lines a portion of the small intestine called the ileum, according to new preclinical research from Weill Cornell Medicine.