Dr. Randy Longman

People with Crohn’s disease and related joint inflammation linked to immune system dysfunction have distinct gut bacteria or microbiota, with the bacterium Mediterraneibacter gnavus being a potential biomarker, according to new study by Weill Cornell Medicine researchers.

Dr. Randy Longman, director of the Jill Roberts Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease and an associate professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, and colleagues have received the NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award to develop the tools needed to understand how the gut microbiome drives metabolic pathways.

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. 

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.

Changes in a single gene open the door for harmful gut bacteria to set off the inflammation that drives Crohn’s disease.

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.

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. 

The effectiveness of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in treating ulcerative colitis depends on a small set of beneficial bacterial strains, suggests a new study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian.

The discovery of an “Achilles heel” in a type of gut bacteria that causes intestinal inflammation in patients with Crohn’s disease may lead to more targeted therapies for the difficult to treat disease.

Dr. Randy Longman, an accomplished physician-scientist, has been appointed director of the Jill Roberts Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

A protein induced by gut microbes is vital in healing colons that have become inflamed due to a short-term form of colitis, Weill Cornell Medicine researchers discovered in a new study. 

A single transplant of microbes contained in the stool of a healthy donor is a safe and effective way to increase diversity of good bacteria in the guts of patients with ulcerative colitis.

For gastroenterologist Dr. Randy Longman, having the greatest effect on his patients' lives means searching for new strategies to treat -- or even cure -- their disease.