Dhyani M¹, Joshi N², Bemelman WA³, Gee MS⁴, Yajnik V⁵, D'Hoore A⁶, Traverso G⁷, Donowitz M⁸, Mostoslavsky G⁹, Lu TK¹⁰, Lineberry N⁵, Niessen HG¹¹, Peer D¹², Braun J¹³, Delaney CP¹⁴, Dubinsky MC¹⁵, Guillory AN¹⁶, Pereira M¹⁷, Shtraizent N¹⁸, Honig G¹⁸, Polk DB^19,20, Hurtado-Lorenzo A¹⁸, Karp JM²¹, Michelassi F²². Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2019 May 16;25(Supplement_2):S24-S30. doi: 10.1093/ibd/izz077.

Author information

1 Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, Burlington, Massachusetts.

2 Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

3 Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

4 Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

5 Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, Boston, Massachusetts.

6 University Hospital Gasthuisberg and University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

7 Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Massachusetts.

8 Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.

9 Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts.

10 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

11 Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, Biberach, Germany.

12 School of Molecular Cell Biology and Biotechnology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.

13 Inflammatory Bowel and Immunobiology Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai, Los Angeles, California.

14 Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio.

15 Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York.

16 University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas.

17 Gecko Biomedical, Paris, France.

18 Crohn's & Colitis Foundation, New York, New York.

19 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern California.

20 and Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.

21 Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Broad Institute and Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.

22 New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell School of Medicine, New York, New York.

Abstract

Novel technologies is part of five focus areas of the Challenges in IBD research document, which also includes preclinical human IBD mechanisms, environmental triggers, precision medicine and pragmatic clinical research. The Challenges in IBD research document provides a comprehensive overview of current gaps in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) research and delivers actionable approaches to address them. It is the result of a multidisciplinary input from scientists, clinicians, patients, and funders, and represents a valuable resource for patient centric research prioritization. In particular, the novel technologies section is focused on prioritizing unmet clinical needs in IBD that will benefit from novel technologies applied to: 1) non-invasive detection and monitoring of active inflammation and assessment of treatment response; 2) mucosal targeted drug delivery systems; and 3) prevention of post-operative septic complications and treatment of fistulizing complications. Proposed approaches include development of multiparametric imaging modalities and biosensors, to enable non invasive or minimally invasive detection of pro-inflammatory signals to monitor disease activity and treatment responses. Additionally, technologies for local drug delivery to control unremitting disease and increase treatment efficacy while decreasing systemic exposure are also proposed. Finally, research on biopolymers and other sealant technologies to promote post-surgical healing; and devices to control anastomotic leakage and prevent post-surgical complications and recurrences are also needed.