Colon & Rectal Surgery at the University of Louisville -- Patient Information

"Work in Progress" Newsletter

Great Explorations

Every fall, the Digestive Surgery Research Laboratory is proud to participate in "Research! Louisville" -- a weeklong celebration of research in the Louisville Medical Center. Last year, two of our summer research fellows -- Alisa Funke and Tracy McAuliffe -- presented their work.

"Research! Louisville" is jointly sponsored by the University of Louisville Health Sciences Center, U of L Health Care, the Jewish Hospital Foundation, and Norton Healthcare.

Alisa Funke Ain't Misbehaving
Crohn's disease affects everyone differently. Some folks with Crohn's disease suffer from intestinal blockages, while other individuals must endure persistent, excessive diarrhea. Knowing the "behavior pattern," location, as well as the age of onset may give doctors a better way of comparing patients with different subtypes of Crohn's disease.

This might be especially helpful for researchers who are conducting clinical trials, for instance, to see which drugs are most effective for different disease types. In our laboratory, it helps us categorize patients for genetic studies.

Funke presented a poster explaining her work with this classification system. It is on display U of L's Price Institute for Surgical Research.

Tracy McAuliffe Throwing the Switch
NF-Kappa-B is a switch that turns the inflammatory process on when the body needs to fight an infection. For reasons we don't understand, NF-Kappa-B is turned on and can't shut off in illnesses such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

McAuliffe is studying the gene that produces the proteins needed to turn off NF-Kappa-B.

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