Mater Inflammatory Bowel Disease Team

	Profile

Our work is focused on understanding Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), specifically ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD) affect 50,000 Australians. They are a major cause of chronic disease in the gut causing considerable personal distress.

Persons with IBD have an increased risk of bowel and bile duct cancers and some types of arthritis. IBD can affect children and adults first manifesting most frequently in the second and third decades of life. The diseases entail inflammation in the intestine that is amplified by recruitment of the immune system. The initiating factors that cause the inflammation are not known and cures remain to be discovered.

Our work is focused on:

• Understanding why IBD occur
• Developing better ways to treat them
• Helping to make the lives of IBD patients better

	Keywords