SciCom

In May 2025, SciCom, together with Y-ECCO, co-hosted the first ever ECCO Webinar offering skills training for early career IBD Physicians (with CME points*) on a range of research techniques, including such relevant topics as transcriptomics, genetics and epigenetics and the microbiome. The skills-building series was conceived by Bella Ungar, who, together with Bram Verstockt, the former Chair of Y-ECCO, built a programme to meet the e-learning materials gap in translational science for clinicians.

In June 2023, SciCom selected a joint proposal from Shaji Sebastian (then a ClinCom Member, now a Governing Board Member) and the H-ECCO Chair, Aart Mookhoek, addressing the present and future directions of artificial intelligence (AI) in IBD at the frontiers of imaging (endoscopy, radiology, histology), big data, predictive models, drug discovery and both ethical and regulatory considerations.

Diet is now widely recognised to be a significant factor in the pathogenesis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). The optimal role of diet in managing IBD remains an area of ongoing investigation. Diet has thus emerged as a ‘hot topic’ within the field of IBD, and it will take centre stage at the 13th SciCom Workshop.

My son loves the thrilling evolution of Pokémon creatures into their more advanced form. The suspense surrounding the ECCO Young Researcher Award mirrors this Pokémon transformation, as emerging researchers in our community are recognised for their own distinguished professional growth.

ECCO is proud of its continuing commitment to support innovative IBD research through its Fellowships, Grants and Travel Awards, including our flagship Pioneer Awards. Our grant programme now extends beyond the borders of Europe with the emergence of our new Global Grant supporting IBD research for low and lower-middle income countries.

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.

At ECCO’24, Stockholm, the winners of the ECCO Fellowships and Grants programme received their certificates, presented by SciCom Chair Marc Ferrante together with President Britta Siegmund. This year, a record number of grants were awarded, including the new Global Grant designed for low and lower-middle income countries as well as the IIS Registry Grant given for the first time.

At the last ECCO Congress, we had three members stepping down from the ECCO Scientific Committee: Marc Ferrante (Leuven, Belgium; Member since 2019, Chair since 2023), Yves Panis (Clichy, France; Member since 2020) and Konstantinos Papamichail (Boston, US; Member since 2020). Although all three of them served on SciCom in a period greatly impacted by the pandemic, together with the other SciCom Members they ensured a seamless continuation of SciCom activities and the initiation of new ones.

To evaluate the in vitro effect of selected novel matrix-derived peptides (matrikines) that specifically appear in the intestinal tissue of patients with Crohn’s Disease (CD) fibrostenosis on primary human intestinal myofibroblasts (iMFBs).

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.

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.

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.

As a result of my D-ECCO Travel Award, I was able to spend time at the San Filippo Neri Hospital in Rome during January 2023. There I collaborated with a team at the IBD Unit, UOC Gastroenterology. During my stay, I summarised the studies on nutritional determinants of bone mineral density among patients with Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis which my colleagues and I had conducted in the previous year. I collected data from food frequency questionnaires and laboratory tests, including with respect to calcium, vitamin D, folic acid and homocysteine levels. Additionally, I started ...

For two years, a group of 25 IBD specialists, including gastroenterologists, surgeons and scientists, have been working to build a research framework for postoperative recurrence (POR) in patients with Crohn’s Disease. Even though more biological therapies are now available, ileocaecal resection is still a frequent event and POR management remains a challenge for both patients and IBD specialists.

The role of autophagy in limiting IBD-associated AIEC-induced intestinal inflammation While the aetiology underlying the development of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) is unclear, evidence points to an interaction between host genetics, such as mutations in autophagy genes, and environmental factors, such as bacterial infections.

Role of DNA methYlation and geNe expression alterations in development of eArly-onset priMary sclerosIng cholangitis in ulCerative colitis – DYNAMIC Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) is a progressive choleostatic disease and up to 80% of patients also have Ulcerative Colitis (PSC-UC). This presents a clinical challenge owing to the diagnostic difficulty and the increased risk for development of cancer.

Investigating the genetics of IBD multiplex families This research aimed to investigate the genetic architecture of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) multiplex families (including at least three affected first-degree relatives), and to identify the underlying genetic factors that contribute to the familial aggregation of IBD.

Induction of circadian microbial function in chronic intestinal inflammation Impaired clock gene expression has been observed in biopsies from patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Disruption of circadian rhythms, which occurs in shift workers, has been linked to an increased risk of gastrointestinal diseases, including IBD.

This year, available funding for ECCO Fellowships and Grants Programme (F&G) increased to 1.9 Million Euros for this year’s Call 2023 (to be awarded ECCO’24), this is the largest funding volume to date.

Decoding molecular mechanisms and druggable targets of VEO-IBD by multimodal single-cell profiling The pathogenesis and course of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) are heterogeneous and have striking age-dependent characteristics. In particular, children with very early-onset IBD (VEO-IBD) show a higher incidence of unclassified IBD and develop courses different from adult-onset forms. VEO-IBD is a rare condition, but the incidence is increasing globally at an alarming pace.