The new Paediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease (PIBD) BioResource will drive research into Crohn’s Disease & ulcerative colitis in children. It aims to recruit paediatric IBD patients to investigate genetic, immunological mechanisms and environmental factors. The PIBD BioResource is led by the University of Oxford’s Professor Holm Uhlig, a senior researcher in the Oxford BRC’s Gastroenterology and Mucosal Immunity Theme, and is run in collaboration with Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH), the NIHR BioResource and paediatric IBD centres throughout the UK.
The NIHR BioResource is a national panel of volunteers who have consented to participate in health research. Children recruited to the PIBD Bioresource participate by providing blood, biopsy and stool samples as well as health and lifestyle data. The PIBD aims to establish a resource of over 5,000 patients with paediatric onset IBD in the BioResource.
Professor Uhlig (pictured left) said: “Inflammatory bowel diseases in children are increasing in numbers in the UK and worldwide. The PIBD BioResource research network provides the scientific research community with a resource of data and samples to study mechanisms of paediatric onset IBD required to develop better diagnostics and medicines.
“The first paediatric IBD patient was recruited to the PIBD BioResource in April 2022 in Oxford. This patient had developed IBD at a very early age and required several medicines to control the disease. There is substantial unmet need to understand the genetic factors that cause IBD and help to identify novel precision therapies. Our collaborative project will support both UK and international research towards more personalised medicine in PIBD.”
Read the full story on the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Centre website.