Sojin Shikano
University of Illinois Chicago, IL·Microbiology & Immunology
In inflammatory bowel disease, the immune system attacks the gut. The condition includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis and affects over 3 million people in the US.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Pharmacology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
inflammatory bowel disease
Crohn's disease
ulcerative colitis
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2028
What they work on
- Characterize how strongly the TM4 peptide, a nanoparticle-forming copy of GPR15's fourth membrane-spanning segment, blocks GPR15L-triggered signaling through the GPR15 receptor in cell-based assays.
- Determine the mechanism by which the TM4 peptide blocks G protein signaling from GPR15, the receptor that guides T cells to the colon.
- Test whether the TM4 peptide reduces colon inflammation and T-cell migration to the colon in the naive T cell transfer model in Rag2-deficient mice.
More about the research
Many patients either never respond to current drugs or stop responding over time. A key driver of the disease is the build-up of inflammation-causing T cells, a type of white blood cell, in the gut lining. Blocking those cells from traveling to the gut already works as a therapy, as shown by the antibody drug vedolizumab. This project aims to block a different gut-homing signal.
Why it matters
Patients with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis who fail or stop responding to current drugs need treatments that work in new ways. A peptide nanoparticle that blocks GPR15 could keep inflammatory T cells out of the colon and reduce gut inflammation. Because the peptide design method can be adapted to other chemokine receptors and related receptors, it may also guide drug development for other inflammatory conditions.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Pawel Kiela
University of Arizona, AZ·Microbiology & Immunology
Determine whether loss of NAD+ or excess PARylation by the enzyme PARP1 is the main driver of experimental colitis, using PARP1 knockout mice and drug inhibition.
Ling-shiang Chuang
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY·Genetics
Profile perianal fistula tissue from Crohn's disease patients with single-cell multiome ATAC plus transcriptome and spatial transcriptomics, which measure open DNA, gene activity and location cell by cell.
Jacob L Mccauley
University of Miami, FL·Genetics
Expand enrollment of a deeply phenotyped IBD cohort across South Florida and the wider state, substantially increasing the Hispanic genetic sample collection in the US for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
The school
University of Illinois Chicago: 42 labs on PI Pages, $532M a year on research, 359 research doctorates a year.
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