The Cleveland Digestive Diseases Research Core Center has two thematic areas of scientific focus:
Digestive Inflammation/Tumorigenesis
Our Center supports a research base of over 20 investigators with active research programs in digestive inflammation and tumorigenesis of the esophagus and colon. General areas of investigation include:
- innate immune mechanisms of experimental inflammatory bowel disease
- genetic determinants of familial Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal cancer
- cytokine-driven inflammation and colon cancer tumorigenesis
- role of the gut microbiome in intestinal inflammation, Crohn’s disease, and multiple inflammatory diseases beyond the gastrointestinal system
- development of novel targeted immunotherapies and biomarkers for colon cancer
- the effects of HIV and drug use on gut integrity and oral inflammation
Liver Disease/Metabolism
Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic are home to top programs in liver disease and metabolism. Our Center's research base includes a highly collaborative group of over 15 investigators actively working within these areas on projects related to:
- hyperammonemia and sarcopenia in cirrhosis
- role of adipose in alcohol-induced liver injury
- development of novel anti-obesity therapies
- inflammatory mediators as novel targeted therapies for adult liver disease
- probiotics and alcoholic liver disease
- 3D liver imaging technologies
- skeletal muscle lipid metabolism
- mechanisms of malnutrition in cirrhosis
- gut integrity after HIV therapy with metabolic complications
- mechanisms of metabolic reprogramming by oncogenic mutations