Meet the jury Lecture: ‘Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction and Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: Shared mechanisms, different diseases?’ by prof Asa Keita and Dr. Zlatan Mugajic

Dear researcher,

You are kindly invited to the Meet the jury Lecture: ‘Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction and Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: Shared mechanisms, different diseases?’ by prof Asa Keita and Dr. Zlatan Mugajic.

Date: Nov 15, 2024 from 01:00 PM to 02:00 PM

Location: UZ Leuven – Meeting room Panamarenko (Brown street, gate 3, 5th floor)

Disorders of Gut-Brain Interactions, DGBI in short, and Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) are chronic intestinal conditions of which the pathophysiology remains incompletely understood. The two main entities of IBD, being Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, are characterized by an uncontrolled inflammatory response in the intestine, with an important role for the gut microbiota. Both a dysregulated immune response and microbial alterations are thought to be involved in the pathophysiology of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), one of the most prevalent DGBI, defined as painful symptoms in the lower gut in the absence of structural abnormalities. Despite the clear differences in clinical presentation, IBD and IBS might share important similarities.

Indeed, a large number of IBD patients in remission suffers from IBS-like symptoms, which present patients and clinicians with new challenges. Furthermore, the neuro-immune interactions that might result in the generation of IBS symptoms, can also be at play in the intestinal mucosa of patients with IBD.

In this Meet The Jury Lecture, two experts in the field will outline the evidence for the similarities and differences between both conditions, from a basis science and clinical perspective, highlighting what the two research domains can learn from each other.

About the speakers

Åsa Keita is a senior associate professor at the University of Linköping in Sweden. Her research focuses mainly on neuro-immune interactions and regulation of barrier function in two important disorders of the lower gut: irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Prof. Keita is particularly interested in the mucosal interactions involving immune cells, such as mast cells and eosinophils, the enteric glial cells, and the enteric nervous system. Besides, connection of these gut findings with measurements of the brain and the gut microbiota are within her research interests.

Zlatan Mujagic is a staff member and gastroenterologist at the Maastricht UMC+ in The Netherlands, where he has also obtained his PhD. His combined clinical and translational research focuses on IBD, as well as neurogastroenterology and motility, including IBS. His main interests are the role of the microbiota and their metabolites in the pathogenesis of these disorders. In addition, he aims to investigate the relationship between stress, disordered gut motility, intestinal inflammation and gut microbiota alterations, to gain further insights in the pathophysiology of lower gut disorders.

Contact info: Matthias Ceulemans