the griffin institute
Middlesex,
The research arm of The Griffin Institute is working on two areas of potential
benefit to people living with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) by creating a
replacement bowel tissue for transplantation and by developing an in vitro
platform for evaluating candidate drugs for the treatment of those patients who
are not suitable for surgery. Our tissue engineering approach could also be used
to treat other bowel diseases including reconstructive surgery after cancer
removal. Approximately 50% of patients with Crohn’s disease and 20% with
Ulcerative Colitis (UC) will require life-changing surgery that involves removal
of part of the bowel resulting in complications with stool frequency,
malnutrition and infections. As a proof of concept, we will grow stem cells on a
biological inert scaffold in the laboratory to optimise the conditions for
seeding the patient’s own stem cells for eventual transplantation. Use of the
patients own stem cells avoids immune rejection. This proof of concept will lay
the foundation for translational studies and eventual clinical trials for the
management of UC and other bowel conditions in humans. We also hope that this
work will lead to the development of a 3D model where the model tissue populated
with healthy cells will be used to better understand the natural progression of
UC for the purposes of testing interventions for early stage disease.
