Snyder Institute members awarded CIHR grant to further research on regulation of inflammation

Congratulations to Snyder Institute member Dr. Simon Hirota and co-Principal Investigators Dr. Jeff Biernaskie (Faculty of Vet Med, HBI/ACHRI) and Dr. Markus Geuking (Snyder Institute) on their recent successful CIHR grant for "Intestinal mesenchymal regulation of mucosal inflammation”.  

The research team seeks to identify key links between a metabolite/chemical released by the
intestinal microbiota and the regulation of inflammation within specific cells of the intestine.
Should their studies prove positive, they would support the further development and testing of synthetic microbial metabolites to potentially treat intestinal inflammation.

“This support from CIHR will allow us to better understand how metabolites produced by the intestinal microbiota can control inflammation," says Hirota. "It will also allow us to test newly developed synthetic compounds that mimic these metabolites. If results are positive, these synthetic compounds could be further developed into drugs to treat the intestinal inflammation in patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.”