Single cell proteomic and transcriptomic analysis of patients with monogenic forms of IBD

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) encompasses two major diseases Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. A subgroup of patients develop extreme phenotypes of intestinal inflammation due to rare monogenic defects. This includes several forms of immunodeficiency with diverse functional pathogenic mechanisms. Those defects inform on the importance of antimicrobial activity, hyperinflammatory responses and immune regulation. We investigate children with very early onset of intestinal inflammation using whole genome or whole exome sequencing to discover novel high impact genes and analyse the involved signaling pathways in vitro, in situ and in vivo. We like to understand the pathogenesis of rare “orphan” diseases to develop better treatment options for those disorders and improve understanding of pathogenic mechanisms of IBD as a whole.

The project will focus on single cell proteomic and transcriptomic analysis of patients with monogenic forms of IBD in order to understand functional mechanisms of monogenic IBD, to understand cellular communication and to identify novel therapeutic targets to induce cellular antimicrobial activity in order to maintain and reinstall intestinal mucosal barrier function.