About
The Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Research Group (GReMII, from its Catalan name Grup de Recerca en Malalties Inflamatòries Intestinals) is a multidisciplinary group led from the clinical side by Dr Eugeni Domènech, head of the Gastroenterology & Hepatology Department and the Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) Unit at Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital (HUGTiP) and by Dr Josep Manyé Almero, Principal Investigator for Basic and Translational Research. The group is part of the CIBER Consortium (Spanish Ministry of Science) as well as part of the IBDomics and ENEIDA Consortium for genomic research in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, of which Dr Domènech is the coordinator.
GReMII has conducted cutting-edge research over the last 30 years, integrating clinical and translational reseach. Thus, it has positioned itself as a national and international leader in holistic care for IBD patients, resulting in its recognition and excellence certification by the Ad Qualitatem Foundation. Lately, the group has initiated innovative research aimed at solving the severe and recurrent complications associated with both ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease (CD). Understanding, innovating, explaining and training are important and integrated parts of our scientific task with a view to transferring our results to clinical practice. The team combines experts in different skills to ensure that research questions are tackled from the most experimental side (IGTP) to the most clinical side (HUGTiP). The research lines are based on innovative research tools, which allow us to generate new hypotheses aimed at the development of a more personalized medicine, better therapies and improved patient management.
Keywords: Ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, epitranscriptomic biomarkers, corticorefractoriness, postoperative recurrence, creeping fat as a therapeutic target.
Group leader
- Eugeni Domènech, MD, PhD
Eugeni Domènech, MD, PhD
Prof Eugeni Domènech started his research activity at the end of his training in gastroenterology as a research fellow at Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital, from 1994 to 1999. His main field of research in those early years was portal hypertension, but in 1995 he started to focus on Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD). After initial research on the safety of several immunosuppressant-based treatment strategies in IBD, he started his two main research lines on: 1) the pathogenesis, prediction, prevention and management of postoperative recurrence of Crohn's disease; and 2) the epidemiology, prediction and management of steroid refractoriness in ulcerative colitis. In recent years, GReMII (the acronym of the group in Catalan) initiated two new research lines; firstly, IBD in the elderly and the impact of IBD activity on frailty. More recently, the group started clinical and translational research on the role of adipose tissue (mainly visceral fat) in the pathogenesis and clinical outcomes of Crohn's disease.
Domènech is currently the head of the Gastroenterology & Hepatology Department at Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital, the president of the Catalan Society of Gastroenterology & Hepatoogy, and professor of Medicine at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. He was the president of the Spanish Working Group in Crohn's and Colitis (GETECCU) and is one of the founders and current chair of the Spanish ENEIDA registry of GETECCU.
Contact: eugenidomenech(ELIMINAR)@gmail.com
- Josep Manyé, PhD
Research lines
- Ageing and frailty in IBD
- Obesity and visceral fat in IBD
- Faecal calprotectin in the monitoring of IBD
- Epitranscriptomic biomarkers for ulcerative colitis corticorefractoriness and postoperative recurrence in Crohn's disease
- Development of cutting-edge therapies using acellular strategies targeting adipose tissue for Crohn's disease
Active projects
Search for postsurgical recurrence biomarkers based on Systems Biology in Crohn's disease
PI: Míriam Mañosa
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Agency code: PI18/00892
Start date: 2019
End date: 2023
Pathological involvement of ileal mesenteric fat in Crohn's disease: study of mechanism of transformation to creeping-fat and its potential as therapeutic target
PI: Josep Manyé
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Agency code: PI20/00420
Start date: 2021
End date: 2023
Assessment of isomiR profiles in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and their potential as biomarkers of corticoid response and postsurgical recurrence
PI: Eugeni Domènech
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Agency code: PI22/01498
Start date: 2023
End date: 2025
Scientific publications
Highlighted 2023 publications
Ferrante M, Pouillon L, Mañosa M, Savarino E, Allez M, Kapizioni C, Arebi N, Carvello M, Myrelid P, De Vries AC; 8th Scientific Workshop of the European Crohns and Colitis Organisation; Rivière P, Panis Y, Domènech E. Results of the Eighth Scientific Workshop of ECCO: Prevention and Treatment of Postoperative Recurrence in Patients With Crohn's Disease Undergoing an Ileocolonic Resection With Ileocolonic Anastomosis. J Crohns Colitis. 2023 Nov 24;17(11):1707-1722. DOI: 10.1093/ecco-jcc/jjad053.
Suau R, Garcia A, Bernal C, Llaves M, Schiering K, Jou-Ollé E, Pertegaz A, Garcia-Jaraquemada A, Bartolí R, Lorén V, Vergara P, Mañosa M, Domènech E, Manyé J. Response Variability to Drug Testing in Two Models of Chemically Induced Colitis. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Mar 29;24(7):6424. DOI: 10.3390/ijms24076424.
Mañosa M, Fernández-Clotet A, Nos P, Martín-Arranz MD, Manceñido N, Carbajo A, Hinojosa E, Hernández-Camba A, Muñoz-Pérez R, Boscá-Watts M, Calvo M, Sierra-Ausín M, Sánchez-Rodríguez E, Barreiro-de Acosta M, Núñez-Alonso A, Zabana Y, Márquez L, Gisbert JP, Guardiola J, Sáinz E, Delgado-Guillena P, Busquets D, van Domselaar M, Girona E, Lorente R, Casas-Deza D, Huguet JM, Maestro S, Cabello MJ, Castro J, Iborra M, Cañete F, Calafat M, Domènech E; ENEIDA registry by GETECCU. Ustekinumab and vedolizumab for the prevention of postoperative recurrence of Crohn's disease: Results from the ENEIDA registry. Dig Liver Dis. 2023 Jan;55(1):46-52. DOI: 10.1016/j.dld.2022.07.013.
News
Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are the focus of a new episode of the podcast 'Un bri de ciència'
Today, World Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Day, IGTP premieres the sixth episode of its podcast 'Un bri de ciència'. Researcher Josep Manyé explains the work of his team to combat this group of diseases, and a patient shares her experiences with Crohn's disease.
A new gene associated with the maintenance of the protective barrier in the intestine has been identified, this is a key factor in Crohn’s disease
A multidisciplinary group of researchers from the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), the Gastroenterology Service of the Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital and the CIBER-EHD, have used transcriptomics to combine data from public databases and from Crohn's disease patient and controls. They have identified the TMIGD1 gene as having an important role in the loss of the barrier between the cells lining the small intestine and its contents. The discovery throws new light on the mechanism of Crohn's disease and opens the way for more personalized therapies.