People with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are six times as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and on average seven years sooner than people without IBD. IBD will affect 1 percent of Canadians in the next 10 years and there is no cure for this illness. IBD causes intestinal microbiome, neural, immune, and endocrine dysregulation, but the exact mechanisms that drive the development of Alzheimer’s and other dementias are unknown.
The goal of my research is to elucidate the mechanisms by which IBD increases the risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia with the long-term goal of developing pharmacological interventions.