CCA awards two scholarships for 2022

A very strong field of 15 candidates applied for two $75,000 CCA IBD PhD Scholarships, offered over 3 years.

CCA congratulates the two successful candidates:

• Jessica Fitzpatrick
  A dietitian from Monash University and Alfred Health for her study ‘The role of a low emulsifier diet in treating Crohn’s disease’.
  Dietary emulsifiers are a category of food additives that are found readily available in the food supply. In animal models, emulsifiers cause inflammation in the gut, similar to that seen in Crohn’s disease. This project aims at investigating if removing emulsifiers from the diet of people with Crohn’s disease induces disease remission.
• Dr Ralley Prentice:
  From Monash University/Monash Health/Hudson Institute of Medical Research/St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne will undertake the Pregnancy in Crohn’s and Colitis: Observations, Levels and Outcomes Extension study.
  Also known as the PICCOLO-X study, it is a multicentre study with observational and scientific aims. It is investigating how to accurately predict IBD activity in pregnancy and subsequently any changes to the foetal/neonatal immune system and brain development. The study will define how thiopurine metabolite, vedolizumab and ustekinumab levels vary through pregnancy, how much drug crosses the placenta, how quickly the baby clears the drug and finally, how this may affect the immune system of both mum and baby.