Federal Grant Award Summary

New York University School of Medicine received $845,994 in federal funding under a Project Grant awarded on July 14, 2026, by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases under the Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.847). The award supports research through April 30, 2031, focused on predicting pouchitis development in inflammatory bowel disease patients through advanced immune-epithelial profiling. The research employs multi-modal single-cell sequencing platforms to evaluate pre-surgical ileal tissue and identify biomarkers associated with subsequent pouch inflammation, examining the relationship between TH17-driven immune dysregulation and epithelial dysfunction in patients undergoing restorative proctocolectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA).

The project delivers two primary research outputs: (1) characterization of the immune microenvironment in pre-IPAA ileum to establish predictive associations with clinical pouch outcomes, including assessment of TH17 infiltration, epithelial apoptosis, and spatial transcriptomic profiles in an existing longitudinal patient cohort; and (2) mechanistic analysis defining how pouchitis-associated immune dysregulation impacts epithelial biology, including evaluation of TH17-mediated effects on epithelial stem cells and lineage differentiation. These deliverables aim to improve understanding of pouchitis pathogenesis and develop predictive tools to identify high-risk patients prior to surgical intervention, addressing substantial morbidity affecting approximately 50 percent of ulcerative colitis and colonic Crohn's disease patients requiring IPAA procedures.