Dear Y-ECCO Enthusiasts!

Can you believe that it’s been only four months since the last ECCO Congress? I bet that many of you are already knee-deep in exciting research for ECCO 2025 in Berlin, so mark your calendars and keep an eye open for the abstract submission deadline. You can’t miss that, as we want to see your top-notch research! Maybe you are the next Y-ECCO Best Abstract awardee!

The last decade has seen a dramatic increase in drugs available for the treatment of IBD. However, each of these novel biologics or small molecules achieves disease remission in only a relatively small proportion of patients [1].To date, implementation in clinical practice of evidence that assists in better evaluating the chance of therapy success in a particular patient for a particular drug is limited. Therefore, when choosing a drug for a patient with IBD who is starting therapy or needs to switch drugs, a trial-and-error approach may be unavoidable.

To address this unmet clinical need, several research groups have now turned their attention to biomarker discovery to allow development of an evidence-based personalised treatment strategy [2]. At this year’s Congress of ECCO in Stockholm, I had the opportunity to provide an update on the field of biomarker discovery from the perspective of a pathologist. In this issue of ECCO News, I want  to share with you the most important points from that H-ECCO Masterclass talk.

Caroline Nordenvall has recently joined the S-ECCO Committee. She works at the Karolinska University Hospital as an IBD surgeon and is head of the research group in colorectal surgery. She is an Associate Professor within the University.

Emma Halmos © ECCO

Hannah Gordon © ECCO

Richard Hansen © ECCO

Diet in Inflammatory Bowel Disease has become a hot topic in recent years, pushed forward by advances in our understanding of the microbiome and the promise of nutrition as therapy, particularly in Crohn’s Disease. One of the most important questions in clinic (and yet the hardest to answer) remains “What can I eat?” or variations of the same. The reason this question is so difficult to answer is the enormous complexity in how diet overlays IBD and also the lack of high-quality scientific studies addressing this specific problem.

Simona Radice © ECCO

Maria de Jong © ECCO

Cathy Walsh © ECCO

Two new members joined the N-ECCO Committee in February 2024: Maria de Jong from the Netherlands and Cathy Walsh from Ireland. We all share the same mission: promoting IBD nursing in Europe, rolling out educational and research programmes, and developing patient care and education. We are looking forward to working together, and here Maria and Cathy introduce themselves and their aims while on the committee.

Pascal Juillerat  © ECCO

Dear ECCO Members,

I am delighted to share some exciting updates regarding our e-Learning platform. As we embrace the vibrant seasons of spring and summer, I encourage you to take advantage of the latest content we have recently added to the e-Library, including the latest Abstracts and Presentations from the ECCO’24 Congress.

Change is the engine that propels scientific progress, and within this dynamic, committees evolve. As members transition, embracing fresh perspectives, the spirit of innovation flourishes, shaping the path ahead. Amidst this journey, EpiCom is pleased to introduce Paul Henderson while bidding farewell to Julien Kirchgesner.

María Chaparro © ECCO

Murat Toruner © ECCO

Julien Kirchgesner © ECCO

During the last ECCO’24 Congress in Stockholm, the ECCO Governing Board announced the new strategy REACH. The REACH strategy is the acronym of five clear goals to shape the current and future ECCO activities for the next years, better defining and expanding ECCO global mission to improve the care for all IBD patients.

Bella Ungar © ECCO

The first ECCO Global Grant was awarded at ECCO'24 to an international group leading a fascinating prospective study across Sub-Saharan Africa¹. The study is focusing on IBD genetics in the region and is being led by Professor Nick Croft and Dr. Phoebe Hodges from Queen Mary University of London, Professor Paul Kelly and colleagues from the Tropical Gastroenterology and Nutrition Group, University of Zambia and Professor McGovern and his group at Cedars-Sinai, Los Angeles. I had the privilege of discussing aspects of the study with members of the study consortium.

Robin Dart © ECCO

For this Y-ECCO Interview Corner we met with Shaji Sebastian, who is known to everyone as Seb, on the Friday of the ECCO Congress. Seb has had a long association with ECCO. He is the outgoing Chair of ClinCom and was elected as Treasurer of ECCO at this year’s General Assembly. He is a consultant in Hull in the North of England, having got there through a somewhat circuitous route, as we will hear...