Posted on March 25, 2016 by Cho Laboratory

Upcoming Events

[wds id=”2″]

A major focus of our research is understanding the prevalence of IBD in the Ashkenazi Jewish population. We are working on further identifying rare disease associated variants in Ashkenazi Jewish population by Exome Chip technology as well as the biological function of those identified genes. Dr. Cho’s research has contributed to defining the pathophysiologic mechanisms of IBD by identifying associations to NOD2, IL23R, and 163 loci to IBD. With new findings our research is evolving to now looking at the function of lipid mediators and their related cytokines in innate immune cells, and the full transcriptome of enteroids, the intestinal epithelial stem cells.

Furthermore, we investigate the relationship between environmental factors and IBD by examining how hosts (humans) interact with gut microbes and how the interaction may lead to IBD susceptibility and/or maintain IBD pathogenesis. By dissecting the relationship between IBD genetics, immune response, and microbes, we would have a better chance to develop treatment for blocking pro-inflammatory proteins, inflammatory pathways, or immune cell entry into intestine. The integration of our research with the clinical research for IBD has great potential for the future of IBD treatment.

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Cho Laboratory

Genetics of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

CCFA Brooklyn Take Steps

October 11, 2015

The “Take-Steps “ is a bold and noble endeavor that the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) embark on each year, pooling together its centers around the nation to facilitate their largest fundraising event.

The event raises awareness on the struggles and celebrates the triumphs of more than 1.4 million Americans that are ailing from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), namely, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The funds that are raised go towards helping facilitate educational and outreach campaigns, supports patient care programs and drives crucial research studies, which are focused on elucidating more information on the disease.

This year, the Genetics of IBD research team from The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, led by Drs. Judy Cho and Inga Peter, joined the efforts of CCFA at the Brooklyn Take Steps event and helped raise awareness on the struggles and triumphs of many IBD patients, as well as aided to promote efforts towards IBD research.

Posted on May 21, 2015 by Cho Laboratory

New paper from the Cho lab published this month in Human Molecular Genetics!

Shikha Nayar present in Work in Progress (WIP) for Genetic and Genomic Sciences at Sinai
Date: 3/21/2018

Using single cell RNA sequencing to understand host-pathogen interaction of Crohn’s disease in a zebrafish model.

Ling-shiang (Felix) Chuang presented at ASCB/EMBO Minisymposium: Bactrerail Infection and Symbiosis on December 2-6 2017

Shikha Nayar and Ling-shiang (Felix) Chuang from Cho lab presented posters at American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB/EMBO) on December 2-6 2017

Single cell RNA sequencing of zebrafish intestines reveals enhanced inflammatory signatures in chemically‐induced intestinal

Zebrafish modeling defines complex innate immune mechanisms in sepsis and repetitive intestinal

Congratulations to Cho Lab members (past and present) for the publication of “Improved integrative framework combining association data with gene expression features to prioritize Crohn’s disease genes.”

One of the greatest challenges in Crohn’s disease (CD) research today is making sense of the 100+ loci from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) that increase patient risk for this multifactorial disease. Some of the known risk loci span multiple genes, and others appear to be gene deserts. In order to improve available therapies for this disease, we need to refine and prioritize the most probable candidate genes in each locus in order to properly target and treat CD.

By integrating known associations with gene expression features such as tissue specificity, regulatory variants and differential expression in patients and healthy controls, we show that an integrative model outperforms GWAS alone in ranking the evidence for a gene being involved in CD. Moreover, this refined set of genes is more likely to be differentially expressed in polarized proinflammatory macrophages (M1), suggesting that host control of inflammation is central to the pathology of this disease.

As research into the genetics of CD expands, the list of associated loci will follow suit. Incorporating models that include more information than genotype alone will be crucial to understanding which genes in each locus are likely contributing to this disease and how they change under certain conditions to result in disease. By collecting biological specimens from multiple sources, including intestinal biopsies and peripheral blood samples, and combining this data with results published by other groups, we can significantly expand the types of analyses performed and improve our understanding of Crohn’s disease.

Citation

Kaida Ning, Kyle Gettler, Wei Zhang, Sok Meng Ng, B. Monica Bowen, Jeffrey Hyams, Michael C. Stephens, Subra Kugathasan, Lee A. Denson, Eric E. Schadt, Gabriel E. Hoffman and Judy H. Cho. Improved integrative framework combining association data with gene expression features to prioritize Crohn’s disease genes. Hum Mol Genet (2015). doi:10.1093/hmg/ddv142

By B. Monica Bowen

Posted on March 4, 2015 by Cho Laboratory

Dr. Judy Cho Wins CCFA Award for IBD Research

Judy Cho, MD won the prestigious Scientific Achievement in Basic IBD Research award at the annual meeting of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) in December, 2014. She is pictured above between Mount Sinai gastroenterologists Jean-Frédéric Colombel, MD (on the right) and David Sachar (on the left), who won the Scientific Achievement in IBD Clinical Research Award and Lifetime Achievement Award, respectively, marking the first occasion that all three CCFA awards were given to individuals of the same institution.