{"id":1384,"date":"2018-01-05T21:14:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-05T21:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/navyblue.bcmultistaging.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=1384"},"modified":"2026-06-25T19:21:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T19:21:28","slug":"putting-crohns-and-colitis-under-microscope-qa-shauna-crowley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/vallance-lab\/2018\/01\/05\/putting-crohns-and-colitis-under-microscope-qa-shauna-crowley\/","title":{"rendered":"Putting Crohn\u2019s and colitis under the microscope: Q&A with Shauna Crowley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Crohn\u2019s disease and ulcerative colitis are gastrointestinal autoimmune diseases that can make it difficult for children to enjoy everyday activities and absorb the nutrients they need to grow.<\/p>\n\n

The researchers in\u00a0Dr. Bruce Vallance<\/a>\u2019s lab at BC Children\u2019s Hospital are dedicated to understanding why these debilitating diseases occur and how they can be treated. Shauna Crowley, a PhD student in the Vallance Lab, talks about how her research on the microscopic world inside our guts could lead to new treatments for these painful, lifelong conditions.<\/p>\n\n

What are you researching right now?<\/h3>\n\n

I study how a common bacteria called Salmonella<\/em> Typhimurium interacts with the intestine and causes disease. You may have heard of Salmonella<\/em> in news stories about outbreaks of foodborne illness \u2013 eating food contaminated with this bacterium can cause diarrhea, abdominal cramping, fever and vomiting. In children, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems, Salmonella<\/em> infection can require hospitalization and even be fatal.<\/p>\n\n

I try to understand how our immune systems react to Salmonella<\/em> by studying the inflammasome, which are groups of proteins that trigger an immune response. I look at how the cells lining the intestine use inflammasomes to protect themselves from Salmonella<\/em> and what happens when these barriers fail.<\/p>\n\n

Understanding how Salmonella<\/em> gets past the body\u2019s defenses may help us develop new therapies to treat foodborne illness.<\/p>\n\n

My research could also shed light on how diseases like Crohn\u2019s and colitis develop. These conditions occur when the immune system attacks helpful bacteria and healthy tissue in the gastrointestinal tract, causing symptoms including abdominal pain, fatigue, diarrhea and loss of appetite.  

Based on previous research we\u2019ve done in the Vallance Lab, we think there are similarities between how Salmonella<\/em> breaks down our intestinal barrier and the harmful immune reaction seen in Crohn\u2019s and colitis. Understanding these immune responses could help us develop new treatments. Right now, children with inflammatory bowel diseases take drugs, such as steroids or a class of medications called biologics that suppress their entire immune systems, which make them more vulnerable to infections and cancers. Moreover, as people take biologics, they often become less effective. This is particularly problematic for kids who will need to be on medication for the rest of their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n

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“If we could target the specific immune reactions that cause Crohn\u2019s and colitis, we could provide a long-term, effective treatment for these diseases without causing harmful side effects.”<\/p>\t<\/blockquote>\n\t

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What do you like most about working at BC Children\u2019s Hospital Research Institute?<\/h3>\n\n

As a scientist who doesn\u2019t work directly with patients, I really appreciate the connection between clinical care and research at BC Children\u2019s Hospital Research Institute. In the Vallance Lab, we work in close collaboration with\u00a0Dr. Kevan Jacobson<\/a>, the Division Head, Senior Clinician Scientist and Director of the pediatric gastroenterology program at BC Children\u2019s hospital. He helps us put our experiments into the context of what he\u2019s doing at the clinic, so clinical care informs research and vice versa. It\u2019s rare to have this level of clinical impact in a basic science lab.<\/p>\n\n

What\u2019s one thing about your research you\u2019d like to share with the public?<\/h3>\n\n\n
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“One of the coolest things about the microbiology of the gut is the diversity of microbes we all have living inside us. I think people are becoming more aware of the important role gut bacteria plays in health, but people may not realize that the bacteria in your intestine are incredibly unique from one another.”<\/p>\t<\/blockquote>\n\t

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Think about the city of Vancouver and the diversity we have here with people coming from all over the world \u2013 the population of bacterial cells living inside your intestine is just as varied.<\/p>\n\n

Increasingly with the help of new technologies, we\u2019re able to zoom in and look at the genetic diversity of bacteria. This is really cool, because it may help us understand why certain people are more susceptible to illness. For example, when a large batch of food is contaminated with harmful bacteria, hundreds may eat it, but only a handful will get sick. What\u2019s different about the people who get sick? The answer may lie in the genetics of their gut bacteria.<\/p>\n\n

What do you like to do outside of work?<\/h3>\n\n

I really like to do crafts and have a creative outlet. I make furniture, sew, knit and crochet. One of my best friends who I\u2019ve been sewing with for years has decided she loves sewing so much she\u2019s going to go to fashion school, so now I get to go to fashion school vicariously through her. I\u2019m pretty excited about that.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crohn\u2019s disease and ulcerative colitis are gastrointestinal autoimmune diseases that can make it difficult for children to enjoy everyday activities and absorb the nutrients they need to grow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","fndry_alternate_title":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[11,12],"class_list":["post-1384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-crohns-disease","tag-ulcerative-colitis"],"modified_by":"Andrea Sakamoto","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/vallance-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/vallance-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/vallance-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/vallance-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/vallance-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1384"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/vallance-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2110,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/vallance-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384\/revisions\/2110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/vallance-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/vallance-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/vallance-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/vallance-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}