Mechanistic insight into dietary based therapies for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)

Exclusive enteral nutrition (ENN)-therapy is a first line therapy for IBD with efficacy similar to, or better, than that of corticosteroids. Unfortunately its use is restricted to to lack of adherence resulting from poor palatability and sociability. Despite its effectiveness nothing is known as to the therapeutic mechanism of action (moA). We have successfully developed a preclincial model whereby EEN-therapy can be used to treat IBD in mice. This project will utilise our unique model to determine the MoA with a view to identifying improved dietary based therapies or novel molecular targets for pharmacological based therapeutics. The project will involve stat-or-the art approaches including flow cytometery, confocal microscopy, scRNA seq and assays of intestinal function.