Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

 A study led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators has found that immune tolerance to gut microbes depends on an ancient bacterial-sensing protein called STING—normally considered a trigger for inflammation. 

Bacteria naturally present in the human intestine, known as the gut microbiota, can transform cholesterol-derived bile acids into powerful metabolites that strengthen anti-cancer immunity by blocking androgen signaling, according to a preclinical study led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

Beneficial gut microbes and the body work together to fine-tune fat metabolism and cholesterol levels, according to a new preclinical study.

A group of immune proteins called the inflammasome can help prevent blood stem cells from becoming malignant by removing certain receptors from their surfaces and blocking cancer gene activity, according to a preclinical study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

A fungus discovered in the mouse stomach may hold a key to fungal evolution within the gastrointestinal tract, according to new research led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. 

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.

Dr. Mohammad Arifuzzaman, a postdoctoral associate at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been awarded a 2024 Tri-Institutional Breakout Award for Junior Investigators.

Scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine discovered a previously unknown link between two key pathways that regulate the immune system in mammals—a finding that impacts our understanding of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD).

Inulin, a type of fiber found in certain plant-based foods and fiber supplements, causes inflammation in the gut and exacerbates inflammatory bowel disease in a preclinical model, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

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.