Project 467142

Crohns disease (CD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) are chronic inflammatory diseases characterized by inflammation of the digestive tract and impaired metabolism, respectively. A considerable reduction in quality of life and rising global incidence over recent decades have made both CD and T2D major concerns to healthcare systems. Despite being clinically distinct chronic conditions with unique treatments to manage disease, CD and T2D patients share intriguing similarities which may hint that common initiators of disease exist. Namely, patients with these diseases display abnormal communities of bacteria inhabiting the gut as well as an accumulation of inflamed fat tissue surrounding the intestines. We believe that unique populations of gut bacteria, present in both CD and T2D patients, promote fat tissue inflammation and consequent disease progression. Our goal will be to identify these shared communities of microbes which perpetuate inflammation and understand how this altered fat tissue environment fuels chronic disease. Evaluating the interactions between gut microbiota and immune cells within fat tissue will be essential to understand the common drivers of metabolic and inflammatory disease. Further, we plan to evaluate if supplementation with ;healthy bacteria remodels the inflammatory environment of the fat tissue to limit disease associated pathogenesis. Identifying how shared features between CD and T2D initiate and fuel chronic inflammation will be influential for the development of therapeutic strategies to treat these diseases.