Posted on May 26, 2016 by Cho Laboratory

New York City chapter of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) for their annual New York City Take Steps walkathon.

The Cho lab joined efforts with the New York City chapter of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) for their annual New York City Take Steps walkathon.

The event brings to light the struggles and triumphs of countless individuals living with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), while raising funds to aid critical research and support patient programs. Among those individuals honored at the walkathon for their significant contributions towards IBD research included Mount Sinai’s very own Dr. James Marion and his patient Amy Lane.

(Read more about their stories here: Click Here

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 April 10, 2015 by Cho Laboratory

Dr. Cho attends the first annual Mount Sinai-Oxford Meeting

Initiated by Dr. Judy Cho’s efforts to collaborate with her peers in Oxford, UK, the first annual meeting among the faculty of Mount Sinai and those of Oxford University occurred on Feb 23rd-24th of 2015. The Mount Sinai attendees included those of a few departments who collaborate among each other in biomedical research. A wide array of research topics such as IBD clinical and translational research, human immune monitoring and new technology, immuno-oncology, and microbiome and genetics were discussed at the symposium. Dr. Cho presented on the “Common and rare variation in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD),” and the meeting concluded with a planning discussion of the next steps for the research topics discussed.

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Cho Laboratory

Dr. Judy Cho Presents at New York Genome Center

On February 4th, 2015, Judy Cho, M.D. discussed IBD in Ashkenazi Jewish populations in a presentation titled “Common and rare variation in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD): studies in Ashkenazi Jewish populations” at the Five Point Lecture Series of New York Genome Center. Dr. Cho expounded on the evolution of the Ashkenazi Jewish susceptibility to IBD and what the future holds for identifying the genetic markers of this susceptibility. She hypothesized that that the rare genetic variation predominantly observed in Jewish populations will provide key pathophysiologic insight for IBD.

The Five Points Lecture Series, held every week, brings both local and distant scientists to discuss their work in technical detail. The speakers offer intriguing findings and thoughtful perspectives in full scientific depth. The talks, which last approximately 45 minutes, generally frame about five key points, aptly earning the title “Five Points Lecture.” More information regarding the lecture series and the New York Genome Center can be found on the center’s website.