Lay summary
Approximately 15 000 people in New Zealand are diagnosed with Crohn’s disease (CD), a chronic inflammatory disease that mainly affects the gut. Therapies are poorly targeted to individuals, often resulting in temporary benefits – up to 2/3 of patients become unresponsive to treatment. CD is a heterogeneous disease that involves an interplay of the immune response, the environmental impact on the intestinal epithelial barrier, and the host microbiome, all on the background of genetic susceptibility. The mechanisms and cause of disease pathology, course of disease and efficacy of therapies all vary between individuals. Our overall aim is to determine the drivers of inflammation in onset and maintenance of CD pathology. We have developed a unique intestinal organoid model to simultaneously study the epithelilal integrity, immune response and microbes from individual patients. This work will allow us to identify each contributing factor on a per-patient basis, allowing for targeted therapy.