Project Grant R01DK146930

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases awarded Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai $726,142 on September 1, 2026, under the Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.847) to investigate the role of microbiota-specific T cells in inflammatory bowel disease.

The research uses deep single-cell RNA and T cell receptor sequencing technologies to longitudinally profile T cell repertoire and phenotype in two parallel studies: human subjects with Crohn's disease receiving anti-IL-23 therapy alongside healthy controls, and HLA-matched humanized mice before and after colitis induction. The work prioritizes T cell clonotypes and phenotypes across both human and mouse cohorts, clones candidate T cell receptors into reporter lines, and screens these receptors against donor strains to identify and characterize microbiota-specific T cells. The goal is to advance mechanistic understanding of the gut microbiome's role in inflammatory bowel disease and establish a foundation for antigen-specific therapeutic development in IBD, addressing the approximately fifty percent of patients who do not respond adequately to existing immunosuppressive therapies.

Work is performed in New York, New York. The award period runs through May 31, 2031.