Up to 40 per cent of global populations have a genetic predisposition to celiac disease, but only one per cent develops the autoimmune condition when exposed to dietary gluten.
Elena Verdú, the Canada Research Chair in Nutrition, Inflammation and Microbiota and director of the Axenic Gnotobiotic Unit in the Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute, is studying the mechanisms underlying the link between bacterial communities in the gut and digestive diseases like celiac and inflammatory bowel disease.
Even as her lab explores potential cures, Verdú is also working on developing better treatments that for people who suffer from these diseases.
“As biomedical researchers we tend to have the goal – the cure, the cure, the cure. I think that this is a good long-term aim, but we should put realistic aims in there too,” Verdú says.
“For me, the immediate goal is to discover new mechanisms of these diseases that can be targeted with new therapies, including drug development.”
Elena Verdú, the Canada Research Chair in Nutrition, Inflammation and Microbiota and director of the Axenic Gnotobiotic Unit in the Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute, is studying the mechanisms underlying the link between bacterial communities in the gut and digestive diseases like celiac and inflammatory bowel disease.
Even as her lab explores potential cures, Verdú is also working on developing better treatments that for people who suffer from these diseases.
“As biomedical researchers we tend to have the goal – the cure, the cure, the cure. I think that this is a good long-term aim, but we should put realistic aims in there too,” Verdú says.
“For me, the immediate goal is to discover new mechanisms of these diseases that can be targeted with new therapies, including drug development.”