The MGH/NERPRC Center for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease is a multidisciplinary program to define fundamental mechanisms underlying Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. While a number of provocative and useful observations offer some insights into inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), progress in understanding these common disorders has been slow and new initiatives are needed. Clinical experience and past research efforts serve to underscore the apparent intrinsic complexity of these disorders. Most importantly, progress in IBD research has been limited by both the need for advances in a number of relevant basic fields of gastrointestinal science and sufficient interest in the scientific community to explore the relevance of findings in these areas to IBD. This Center, encompassing workers at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the New England Regional Primate Research Center, includes both scientists pursuing a broad spectrum of areas of basic science relevant to IBD and investigators with established commitment to the study of IBD to promote progress in the understanding of IBD. It is anticipated that this center for research and investigator development will serve as a national resource for the advance in our understanding of IBD. The broad goal of advancing our knowledge of IBD will be promoted through the several biomedical core resources of this center. These cores which will function to provide both service as well as training/consultation, include a Molecular Biology Core, a Morphology core and an Immunology/Inflammatory Core. In addition, a Primate MOdel Core and a Clinical/Tissue Core will provide the needs of the research center with the active program of patient care and clinical investigation at the MGH and to establish a reference source of well characterized tissue and serum that can serve as a center and national resource. The Primate Model Core will also serve as a unique national resource in the study of the Cotton-top tamarin as a model of chronic colitis by making it available not only for the gastrointestinal research community of this center but also nationally. In addition to advancing the understanding of IBD per se, the goals of this center include 1) the recruitment of established investigators to the study of inflammatory bowel disease and 2) the development of a resource for the training of new investigators committed to pursuing IBD research. A pilot feasibility program in support of these goals will place special relevance on proposals to explore the extension of work emerging from the laboratories of allied basic scientists in a manner relevant to IBD as well as innovative projects of other members who will benefit from the core resources. It is hoped that this mechanism will contribute to the overall goal of increasing the complement of investigators focused on the pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of IBD.
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