Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterised by chronic inflammation mainly found in the large and small intestine. This occurs when the immune system mistakenly identifies good bacteria in the gut as a threat. Immune cells attack healthy tissue in the bowels, causing inflammation and damage to the lining of the intestine. This project focuses on the study of a particular type of immune cell called T cells, the malfunction which is thought to be associated with the development of IBD. The inflammation found in IBD patients is confined to areas of the gut and does not occur in other tissues. Peripheral blood and inflamed intestinal samples have already been taken from 13 individuals suffering from IBD. This project will involve the development of a computational program that will carry out analyses on genetic data of T cells from the two samples types. T cells of peripheral blood and inflamed intestine will be compared in order to test the hypothesis. Furthermore, similarities in T cell sequences across the IBD patients will be evaluated. Differences between the two tissue types may be crucial in revealing the relationship between T cell response to gut bacteria and IBD pathology.
