GIDRU

Helping promote women in Science here's a great tweet from Queen's University research! "On #WomenInScience day help us celebrate and inspire present and future #WomenInSTEM by sharing your #QueensuResearch. Follow us as we retweet and highlight some of our #Queensu researchers and their contributions to groundbreaking #STEM research.... Tag us @queensuResearch" https://twitter.com/queensuResea/status/1359536133806374914

This month, Crohn’s and Colitis Canada published an in depth article focusing on abdominal pain and the pertinent research of Dr. Stephen Vanner aiming to minimize potential side effects by delivering opioid-based pain relievers specifically to inflamed tissue in the gut. Be sure to check out this illuminating article here: https://crohnsandcolitis.ca//Pain-and-the-brain-Dr-Stephen

In patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), infiltrating white blood cells release opioids that activate opioid receptors on pain sensing neurons to suppress excitability, providing an endogenous system of pain control. It is not known whether opioid receptors at the plasma membrane or in endosomes mediate this endogenous analgesic pathway and are the optimal target for treatment of inflammatory pain. In this study the hypothesis is tested that from the inflamed... colon activate -opioid receptors in endosomes of pain sensing neurons to evoke signals that cause long-lasting inhibition of excitability and relief from pain, and that -opioid receptors in endosomes are a superior therapeutic target for inflammatory pain. Check out the full article in Junes issue of PNAS! https://www.pnas.org/content/117/26/15281

Metabolomics is the study of small molecules involved in many life sustaining chemical processes within an organism. Irritable bowel syndrome is a common bowel disorder with a broad range of causes however finding differences or even biomarkers for IBS is challenging. Metabolomics may offer a new means to further elucidate this syndrome affecting over 10% of adults in Western society. In this month's issue of Neurogastroenterology & Motility get caught up with this mini revi...ew about the current application of metabolomics to the study of irritable bowel syndrome. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/13652982/2020/32/6

New technology in the KGH Research Institute’s W.J. Henderson Centre for Patient-Oriented Research is helping scientists accelerate their search for the causes of bowel disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Read the full article here: https://kingstonhsc.ca//metabolomics-research-targets-bowe

Delicious looking homemade cupcakes from a student in the department for our Wednesday 3pm Fika. An opportunity to get away from the computer screen or lab bench for between 15-30 minutes, have a tea/coffee and something sweet and engage with one another as a team

Taking a break from working hard in the lab and in the office GIDRU went to the bowling ally and for a nice lunch. Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We would like to congratulate Dr. Stephen Vanner for being awarded one of Canada’s most prestigious honours of being named a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS)! "Fellows are chosen for their international leadership, academic performance, scientific creativity and willingness to serve." Congratulations!! ... Read the full article in the link below: https://www.queensu.ca//national-honour-international-rese

A little short notice but if you live in and around the Queen's University Campus and fancy getting into the Halloween spirit then join the @QueensASUS Crohn’s and Colitis group for their Spooky Social! Great initiative! What will you paint?... "Gather up all your friends or housemates and join us October 30th in the JDUC Room 351 from 1:00-5:00pm to decorate your own pumpkin for Halloween! All supplies will be provided, but feel free to get creative and bring additional materials! The event is by donation with all proceeds going to Crohn’s and Colitis"

Congratulations to Dr. Alan Lomax for receiving very competitive CIHR funding to help those suffering with pain from inflammatory bowel disease! "The project builds on his group’s discovery that the pain suppressing bacterium is present in healthy bowels. This bacterium is missing in many patients with IBD, which may remove a brake on the pain that these patients experience. Their research has also shown that other gut microbes from patients with IBD can produce substances th...at cause pain." To read the article and learn more about this fascinating research follow the link below: https://www.queensu.ca//harnessing-microbes-treat-gut-pain

Throwback Thursday to when Queen's students Hannah Foran (Artsci’19) and our own Daniel Rivera (Artsci’20) supported the U-Flourish Project (a longitudinal study examining the well-being and academic success of students over their first year at the university) by engaging with first-year students and getting them to participate in the survey. Check out the article from May below! https://www.queensu.ca/ga/stories/helping-students-flourish

New KHSC research will test novel pain-relieving drugs for bowel disease One of the greatest unmet needs of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is abdominal pain. Opioid drugs are the most effective treatment, but they have serious side effects. However, new opioid drugs now in development offer longer-lasting pain relief with minimal side effects, and Dr. Stephen Vanner, a clinician-scientist at the KGH Research Institute and Queen’s University, is leading a new, ...three-year research project to see how well they work. Dr. Vanner, who is Director of the Gastrointestinal Diseases Research Unit at Kingston Health Sciences Centre, has been awarded $375,000 from Crohn’s and Colitis Canada to support early-stage laboratory research that will look at delivering these opioids to specific targets in pain-sensing nerves to reduce pain while mitigating side-effects of opioids. One of the drugs inhibits these painsensing nerves in a unique way that leads to sustained pain relief. Another targets these nerves only in inflamed tissues. These particular drugs should have no effect on normal tissues, so they could limit or even prevent side effects, Dr. Vanner says. This research builds on a large body of earlier IBD work by Dr. Vanner’s group into pain-signalling pathways that suggest these strategies will be effective. If these approaches work, the next step could be clinical trials in patients, he says. Approximately 1,100 Kingstonians live with IBD, according to Crohn’s and Colitis Canada, and the number of Canadians with this disease is expected to jump from 270,000 to more than 400,000 by 2030. Canada has the highest rate of IBD in the world.

‘This is on a scale that’s never been attempted before’ Almost two months since initial publication this article provides a great insight into an exciting new project that GIDRU is a part of! While the initial interest and involvement has been promising more participants from Kingston are required for this unique study!... To join the groundbreaking Canadian project please contact Celine Morissette at Kingston Health Sciences Centre, 613-544-3400 ext.2479 or by emailing [email protected]. https://www.thewhig.com//this-is-on-a-scale-thats-never-be

This Sunday at Lake Ontario Park join us at the 24th annual 5K Gutsy Walk to walk, jog or run with us towards a future free from Crohn’s and colitis! REGISTRATION: 9:00 AM START: 10:15 AM... See you there! Follow the link to learn more: https://crohnsandcolitiscanada.akaraisin.com//GroupHome.as