ECCO News

ECCO News keeps ECCO Members up-to-date on what is going on within the organisation and reports on IBD activities taking place within Europe. Since Spring 2006, ECCO News has maintained the flow of information between Members of the organisation. 

ECCO News is an important part of the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation’s ambition to create a European standard of IBD care and to promote knowledge and research in the field of IBD. 

Editor & Associate Editors

Edouard Louis
© ECCO

Nuha Yassin
© ECCO

Ignacio Catalán-Serra
© ECCO

Brigida Barberio
© ECCO

Spyros Siakavellas
© ECCO

Latest ECCO News Content


18December2023

Final Report, ECCO Grant for Marcus Claesson

Marcus Claesson, ECCO Grant Awardee

The gut mycobiome in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Continuation of the project initiated by Chloe Huseyin, ECCO Grant Awardee


Marcus Claesson  
© Marcus Claesson

Background & aim of research

The conducted research had two aims:

Aim 1: To characterise the inter-/intra-individual composition of the mycobiome of patients with IBD and healthy controls utilising a variety of sample types and methodological techniques.

Aim 2: To provide a large dataset of fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rRNA sequencing data to complement the bacterial 16S rRNA analysis underway in-house.

Posted in ECCO News, SciCom, Volume 18, Issue 4, Committee News, Fellowships & Grants Synopsis Reports

18December2023

Final Report, ECCO Grant for Neil Chanchlani

Neil Chanchlani, ECCO Grant Awardee

Intestinal epithelial cell stress modulates enteric fibroblastic and neuronal profiles in Inflammatory Bowel Disease


Neil Chanchlani 
© Neil Chanchlani

Background & aim of research

Multiple patient, disease and pharmacokinetic (including anti-TNF drug and antibody concentrations) factors, as well as a limited number of proteomic markers, have been implicated in anti-TNF treatment failure. However, their relative effects and interactions have not been fully explored. We aimed to replicate previously postulated serological markers and to identify novel inflammatory and immune response proteomic markers related to anti-TNF treatment failure in patients with active luminal Crohn’s Disease.

Posted in ECCO News, SciCom, Volume 18, Issue 4, Committee News, Fellowships & Grants Synopsis Reports

18December2023

Final Report, ECCO Grant for Celia Escudero-Hernández

Celia Escudero-Hernández, ECCO Grant Awardee

Intestinal epithelial cell stress modulates enteric fibroblastic and neuronal profiles in Inflammatory Bowel Disease


C. Escudero-Hernández
© C. Escudero-Hernández

Background & aim of research

This project aimed to understand the effects that crucial IBD epithelial stress factors (i.e. ATG16L1 and XBP1 impairments) might have in enteric fibroblasts and neurons.

Posted in ECCO News, SciCom, Volume 18, Issue 4, Committee News, Fellowships & Grants Synopsis Reports

18December2023

19th Congress of ECCO: Overview of Scientific and Educational Programmes

Brigida Barberio, ECCO News Associate Editor

Brigida Barberio
© Brigida Barberio

Dear IBD Colleagues and Friends, 

Warm greetings from the ECCO News Team!

This year, the entire ECCO Team has again worked hard to organise a top quality meeting, which will take place in the inclusive and welcoming city of Stockholm, home of environmental sustainability! Therefore, we would like to invite all of you to the 19th Congress of ECCO, to be held from February 21 to 24, 2024.

On this occasion, the ECCO Scientific Programme will be structured around the main topic “Crossing borders in IBD”. We want to cross borders because we are searching, because we want more, because we want to expand our horizons and because we want borderless research in IBD.

Posted in ECCO News, Volume 18, Issue 4

18December2023

Letter from the ECCO President

Britta Siegmund, ECCO President


Britta Siegmund
© ECCO

 

Dear ECCO Friends,

This is the final edition of ECCO News for 2023. It is an appropriate time to reflect on past activities and look forward to ECCO 2024 “Crossing Boarders” in Stockholm. It is worth noting that at the end of 2023, ECCO has reached a new record number of 4596 members!

The theme of the 2024 congress is “Crossing Boarders”, indicating that ECCO aims to expand its global IBD network. This issue emphasizes two initiatives: the new ECCO Global grant and the recently initiated ECCO Consensus on IBD in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The 2024 congress will discuss and highlight IBD around the world, facilitating network building. The preview of the programme is available here.

Posted in ECCO News, Volume 18, Issue 4, Letters from the ECCO President

26October2023

ECCO: Official Statement

Until the year 2016, the probiotic blend sold under the brand name VSL#3® contained the formulation that is known as the De Simone Formulation (DSF). This specific formulation was the subject of extensive scientific research and demonstrated proven efficacy in the management of inflammatory bowel diseases.

For the record, it is imperative to acknowledge that final and non-appealable judgments have been rendered by the United States District Court for the District of Maryland in the year 2019, as well as by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in 2021. These judicial determinations mandated the immediate cessation of deceptive advertising practices by the distributors of VSL#3® and awarded damages in the sum of $18 million USD in favor of Professor De Simone and his United States-based entity, Exegi Pharma, LLC. These verdicts carry transnational implications as the product VSL#3® that is distributed both within the United States and internationally is identical. Consequently, the legal conclusions reached by the United States judicial system hold global relevance.

Posted in ECCO News, Volume 18, Issue 3

26October2023

Meet the Reps: Turkey - Interview with Nalan Gülsen Ünal and Asli Ormeci

Spyros Siakavellas, ECCO News Associate Editor

Spyros Siakavellas
© Spyros Siakavellas

Dear ECCO friends,

Welcome to this interesting discussion with the ECCO National Representatives of Turkey Nalan Gülsen Ünal and Asli Ormeci. We had a great talk mainly about the challenges of treating IBD in Turkey a country with significant diversity in the circumstances of healthcare but also for telemedicine, holistic care implementation of new developments in our field such as biomarkers and intestinal ultrasound and even more topics!

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Spyros Siakavellas
ECCO News Associate Editor

Posted in ECCO News, Meet the Reps, Podcasts and Videos, Volume 18, Issue 3

26October2023

Meet the JCC Authors: Interview with Parul Tandon

Nuha Yassin, ECCO News Associate Editor

Nuha Yassin
© ECCO

Welcome to our series of interviews with the Author. I am Nuha Yassin, a consultant colorectal surgeon in Birmingham, UK, and one of the associate editors for ECCO News. I am delighted to be joined by Parul Tandon from Toronto, Canada.

Posted in ECCO News, Meet the JCC Authors, Podcasts and Videos, Volume 18, Issue 3

26October2023

Y-ECCO Interview Corner: Tim Raine

Robin Dart, Y-ECCO Member

Robin Dart
© ECCO

Tim Raine is a consultant gastroenterologist at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge and an honorary faculty member of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. He is a mucosal immunologist, and alongside translational science work, he is also heavily involved in clinical trials and guideline development. Despite his relative youth, Tim has been in and around ECCO for many years and is well known to the ECCO Community. After chairing both Y-ECCO and GuiCom, he is now a member of SciCom, reflecting the breadth of his involvement with IBD. I had the opportunity to discuss his work with ECCO and his journey into life as a clinician-scientist.

Posted in ECCO News, Committee News, Volume 18, Issue 3, Y-ECCO

26October2023

Report on the 2nd Y-ECCO Mentorship Forum

Gabriele Dragoni, Y-ECCO Member

Gabriele Dragoni
© ECCO

Dear Y-ECCO Friends,

The Y-ECCO Mentorship Forum is an educational event designed to foster networking and prepare the career of young gastroenterologists with a particular interest in Inflammatory Bowel Disease. In June 2023, the second edition of the Forum took place in beautiful Vienna, and it certainly did not disappoint.

Posted in ECCO News, Committee News, Volume 18, Issue 3, Y-ECCO