Dr. Abigail Basson, PhD, RD, LD, is a registered dietitian and NIH-funded Instructor in the Department of Nutrition with a secondary appointment with the Division of Gastroenterology, School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. Abigail’s research goal is to identify mechanisms for targeted dietary manipulation of intestinal microbiota and inflammation that can be used as predictors or therapeutic modifiers of disease severity in patients affected with chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). As such, her research integrates basic science and translational clinical research in IBD, combining clinical nutrition and translational methodologies to identify candidate dietary nutrients that will ultimately be translated to biomarkers associated with ‘person-specific’ therapeutic strategies. On the clinical component, Abigail has focused on implementing IRB-approved strategies to validate the findings derived from her mouse work and is currently the PI of a NIH funded, multidisciplinary diet intervention study in patients at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center.
Teaching Information
Teaching Interests
Nutrigenomics
Research Information
Research Projects
Effect of an Anti-Inflammatory Diet on Gut Homeostasis in Active and Experimental Crohn’s Disease
Recent Funding
Title: NIH Mentored Research Scientist Development Awards (K01)
Award: 1K01DK127008-01
Funder: NIH/NIDDK
Role: Principal Investigator
Dates: 03/01/2021-12/31/2025
Awards and Honors
Publications
Selected Papers
a. Basson A, Swart R, Jordaan E, Mazinu M, Watermeyer G. (2014) The association between race and Crohn’s disease phenotype in the Western Cape population of South Africa, defined by the Montreal classification system. PloS ONE; 9(8): e104859. PMCID: PMC4130615.
b. Basson A, Swart R, Jordaan E, Mazinu M, Watermeyer G. (2014) The association between childhood environmental exposures and development of Crohn’s disease in the Western Cape, South Africa. PloS ONE; 9(12): e115492. PMCID: PMC4267820.
c. Basson A, Swart R, Jordaan E, Mazinu M, Watermeyer G. (2016) Vitamin D deficiency increases the risk for moderate to severe disease activity in Crohn’s disease patients in South Africa, measured by the Harvey Bradshaw Index. J Am College Nutr; 35(2):163-174. PMID:26430776.
d. Basson A, Rodriguiez-Palacios A, Cominelli F et al. (2019). Human gut microbiome transplantation in ileitis prone mice: a tool for the functional characterization of the microbiota in inflammatory bowel disease patients. Inflamm Bowel Dis. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 31750921.
e. Basson A, Rodriguez-Palacios A., Cominelli F, et al. (2020). Replacing Animal Protein with Soy-Pea Protein in an ‘American diet’ Controls Crohn’s Disease-like Ileitis Regardless of Firmicutes: Bacteroidetes ratio. J Nutr. 2021. PMID: 33484150.