Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease
The more we learn about the immune system the more we understand about its central role in virtually every type of disease. This clarity is certainly the case in the field of digestive diseases, where the inextricable link between immunology and the gastrointestinal tract plays out in conditions such as inflammatory bowel diseases.
The UCLA Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research Center, established in 2007, brings together basic and translational scientists to create a nexus for discovery and innovation. UCLA’s unique strengths and partnership with the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy at UCLA ensures these discoveries are translated to therapies and technologies that benefit patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Partial funding for this research comes from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the American College of Gastroenterology (AGA), and the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation.
In addition, our experts integrate these latest discoveries into the care of our patients.
Research collaborations
Corrona Inflammatory Bowel Disease Registry
The objective of the Corrona Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) Registry is to create a national cohort of patients with Crohn's disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC) and indeterminate colitis (IC). Data collected will be used to better characterize the natural history of the disease and to extensively evaluate the effectiveness and safety of medications approved for the treatment of IBD. |
Clinical trials
A primary motivation in our efforts to perform biomedical and clinical research has been to advance knowledge that can be used to improve the care we deliver and the quality of our patients’ lives.
View open trials and studies in the Berkeley Limketkai Lab for IBD and nutrition and others related to IBD.
Jacobs Laboratory
Our work in the microbiome realm includes a group headed by Jonathan P. Jacobs, MD, PhD, that is investigating how the intestinal microbiome contributes to IBD development. Jacobs Laboratory
Koon Laboratory
Hon Wai Koon, PhD, is a basic science research faculty of UCLA Center for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. He leads a research team to discover novel diagnostic biomarkers for indicating IBD disease activity and risk of intestinal strictures. His team also finds new targets in IBD, C. difficile infection, obesity, diabetes and colon cancer for developing new therapies. His laboratory has a biobank of clinical samples and data, a collection of animal models with various diseases, and diseased primary cell, organoid and fresh tissue platforms for research. Dr. Koon’s laboratory is also a center for multidisciplinary research training and collaborations. Koon Laboratory
Limketkai Laboratory
Berkeley Limketkai, MD, PhD, leads a clinical/translational research laboratory whose mission is the generation, experimentation, and application of knowledge that can help shape and improve future care of our patients. Our key research themes -- individually and in combination -- include the domains of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), nutrition and biomedical innovation. Limketkai Laboratory
G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience
Emeran A. Mayer, MD, and his colleagues are conducting pioneering studies exploring the interactions between IBD and the nervous system, amid mounting interest in the role of brain alterations in IBD pathogenesis.
Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center
A wide-range of human and preclinical studies are taking place to identify gut microbes and their metabolites that drive the development and progression of IBD and characterize their interactions with the intestinal immune system. Specific areas of focus include understanding microbial changes that preceded the onset of IBD, investigating dietary effects on the IBD-associated microbiome and intestinal inflammation, and defining brain-gut pathways in IBD that mediate the link between stress and disease flares. Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center