University of Chicago Digestive Diseases Research Core Center Pilot and Feasibility Program

The overarching theme of the DDRCC is research in Digestive Health and Disease, including inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and related areas of intestinal inflammation, immunology, the gut microbiome, metabolism, and epithelial biology/cancer of the GI tract.  Pilot and Feasibility applications focused on these “mission” areas will receive higher priority. Broad aspects of basic and translational/clinical research related to enteric microbiology, inflammation, and immunology of the digestive tract and pathogenesis, genetics, pathophysiology, and bench-to-bedside aspects of inflammatory bowel diseases will be given higher priority.  In addition, proposals focused on the examination of growth and differentiation, cancer biology, intestinal epithelial biology and pathobiology of the gastrointestinal tract (including the luminal GI tract, liver, pancreas, biliary system, etc.), as well as basic or clinical research in the areas of nutrition, metabolism, and digestive diseases are appropriate topics for Pilot & Feasibility studies.