Finding blood and stool markers to better understand inflammatory bowel disease

This is a large research study that collects blood, stool, and tissue samples from people with inflammatory bowel disease (including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis), their family members, and healthy volunteers. Researchers will use these samples to discover and test new biological markers—measurable signs in your body—that could help doctors better understand disease activity, monitor how well treatments are working, and predict which patients are at higher risk for worsening disease.

Currently, doctors struggle to objectively measure inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease and predict how individual patients will respond to treatment. This study aims to find new biological markers that could make disease monitoring more precise and help doctors personalize treatment plans for each patient.