The NIDDK Inflammatory Bowel Disease Genetics Consortium (IBDGC) Genomic Research Centers

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Diseases and Nutrition (NIDDK) seeks to advance its mission by continuing the NIDDK Inflammatory Bowel Disease Genetics Consortium (IBDGC). The IBDGC has led collaborative efforts resulting in the identification of >300 genetic risk loci for different IBD subtypes across patient populations and characterization of underlying biological mechanisms. Despite advances in biological understanding and the development of a range of biologic therapies, IBD remains a chronic, severe and heterogenous disease with no cure requiring multiple interventions over the life course. Diagnostic biomarkers and accurate predictors of critical outcomes including disease remission, recurrence, and response to specific therapies are lacking. The IBDGC will leverage patient cohorts, biospecimens and advances in data science to characterize the interactions of genetic, clinical and environmental factors in disease development and progression, and to develop new predictors of disease outcomes, with the goal of improving medical management and advancing precision medicine for IBD patients. The IBDGC may include up to 7 Genomic Research Centers with varying research emphases, which will serve as sites for participant enrollment, molecular analysis of biospecimens and bioinformatics and computational analyses.