United European Gastroenterology Research Prize Awardee 2018 – Cisca Wijmenga

Cisca Wijmenga is awarded the United European Gastroenterology (UEG) Research Prize 2018 for her outstanding work in coeliac disease and her new research project: ‘A coeliac mucosal barrier-on-chip model to investigate its role in initiation of coeliac disease’.

During the past 20 years, Cisca Wijmenga has devoted her career to identifying novel genetic factors that underlie coeliac disease. She was the first to recognise the power of case-control-based genome-wide association studies and the genetic overlap between autoimmune diseases, which truly revolutionised the field. Her work is interdisciplinary and includes genetics, epidemiology, immunology, computational biology and bioinformatics. Cisca explains, ‘The reason I wanted to start investigating the genetics of coeliac disease was to contribute to a better life for patients and moving forward I hope that my work will contribute to that’.

Each year, UEG awards €100,000 to an individual who has shown excellence in basic science, translational or clinical research. Through this award, UEG supports the future of a specific scientific research project from early stage to successful conclusion. The 2018 award will support Cisca to continue her work on the development of a coeliac mucosal barrier-on-chip model and her investigation into how triggering nutritional, viral and microbial factors affects barrier integrity and cytokine production, and whether both epithelial cells and intraepithelial cells, or only one of these cell types, contribute to the mucosal immune response. ‘Over the past 20 years our understanding of the role of human leukocyte antigens in coeliac disease pathogenesis has been improved substantially', Cisca comments, adding:

However, the role of the intestinal barrier, comprising of intestinal epithelial cells and intraepithelial lymphocytes, in disease pathogenesis is under-investigated. Studies into coeliac disease have been hampered by the lack of an appropriate mouse model and most research on barrier function has been performed using cancer cell lines that are obviously not the ideal representative cells. For this study I will employ novel technology that combines induced pluripotent stem cell technology with organ-on-chip platforms, to generate coeliac disease-on-a-chip, in which I will study the role of the mucosal barrier in molecular detail.

This study will generate novel insights into ways to target altered barrier function by therapeutics and hopefully identify targets for drug repurposing. In the future the plan is to expand on the scope of this research by also adding the immune component present in the lamina propria which is not modelled in the current proposal. This will open the future perspective of investigating the role of gluten-specific T cells which will indicate which triggers are important and which cellular pathways are involved and help to direct novel therapeutic options. ‘A life-long gluten-free diet can be a tremendous burden on a patients’ quality of life and I truly hope that this work will allow me to improve this by building personalised models of coeliac disease’, Cisca concludes.

Cisca Wijmenga will receive her award during the Opening Session of UEG Week 2018 in Vienna on Monday 22 October 2018.

Women more active than ever in UEG

Cisca Wijmenga is the second woman to receive the UEG Research Prize, after Rebecca Fitzgerald in 2014, and UEG is delighted to see that more women are now being recognised for their work in digestive health and are becoming more involved in the digestive health scientific community. However, there is still some way to go in addressing the under-representation of women in the field and this is a key element of UEG’s strategy.

A range of initiatives to encourage more female participation in activities has already been activated by UEG. At UEG Week 2018, for example, there are specific sessions for and by women, including ‘Career chat: Women as educators’ (Tuesday 23 October at 13:00–14:00 in the Young GI Lounge) and ‘Women in interventional endoscopy’ (Monday 22 October at 12:45–13:30 in the Hotspot). UEG is also pro-actively encouraging female faculty and female (co-)chairs at UEG Week 2018, inviting more women to become UEG Educators and ensuring stronger female representation within the organisation. Women now hold more posts than ever before on UEG committees and make up the majority of attendees at UEG basic science courses, young investigator meetings and summer schools.

The UEG Equality and Diversity Task Force is driving UEG’s mission to promote and provide equal opportunities for women in the field, as well as creating an environment that is free of discrimination. The Task Force Chair, Nurdan Tozün, welcomes the 2018 Research Prize award together with all the current initiatives being run by UEG, and says:

We want to ensure equality and diversity across all of UEG’s activities regardless of gender, race, disability, age, social class, sexuality or religion and hence encourage an inclusive culture within UEG and in the broader gastroenterology community in Europe and beyond. We are particularly delighted that Cisca Wijmenga has been recognised for her excellent work in coeliac disease and we encourage more women to apply for UEG awards and committee posts to ensure we create a more diverse and equitable environment.