Prof Cryan and Dr Gerard Clarke Attract Key Funding on Irritable Bowel Syndrome

24 Jun 2020

Professor John F. Cryan and Dr Gerard Clarke and have recently been awarded key research funding under the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme to explore the role of the microbiome and gut-brain axis in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

Prof Cryan and Dr Clarke, APC Microbiome Ireland SFI Research Centre and Departments of Psychiatry & Neurobehavioural Science and Anatomy & Neuroscience at University College Cork are partners in the grant ‘Development, dIagnosis and prevention of gender-related Somatic and mental COmorbiditiEs in iRrItable bowel syndrome in Europe’ (DISCOvERIE) which is valued at €6 million overall.  The project involves researchers from eight European countries and a number of European SMEs and aims to better diagnose, prevent and treat this common debilitating condition.

More than 60 million Europeans suffer from anxiety and depression or fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. These conditions (comorbidities) are common in Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) which is a chronic health condition experienced mainly by women. IBS creates a burden on the patients' life. But the origin and mechanisms of IBS comorbidities remain unexplained, treatment is costly and not satisfactory. The EU-funded DISCOvERIE project will make an effort to explain the causative mechanisms of IBS comorbidities, identify them as a distinct clinical entity to enable a significant improvement in its treatment methods. The specific comorbid-IBS psychopathological knowledge will allow delivery of prognostic biomarkers and creation of guides and protocols for new special hospital units providing personalised care.

https://apc.ucc.ie/discoverie/

https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/848228