By: Ada Chong
November 2022
Dr. Subra Kugathasan is a Pediatric Gastroenterologist, whose sole focus has been in the field of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) over the last 30 years. During that time, Dr. Kugathasan has dedicated much of his efforts towards the underlying genetics and immune dysfunction of IBD, with his research remaining well supported by the National Institutes of Health. Recently, Dr. Kugathasan has expanded his research to investigate further the functional genomics of IBD, where he not only considers the genetic aspects of the disease but also mechanistically interrogates how the ancestry and genetics of each patient affects their physiology, disease severity, and outcomes. In particular, he has made considerable effort to better understand the biological reasons for health disparities of IBD and African Americans with IBD, who make up a large portion of his patient population here in the Metro-Atlanta area. Using patient derived samples/tissue/cells combined with cutting edge molecular technologies, Dr. Kugathasan continues to pave the way in clinical and basic research that will undoubtedly improve the lives of future patients. The overarching questions driving Dr. Kugathasan’s research is, what genetic factors contribute to this disease and how do some patients respond when others do not?
Dr. Kugathasan’s IBD team is comprised of 12 dedicated individuals, including scientific staff including PhD and MD scientists, bioinformaticians, clinicians, and clinical coordinators. Dr. Kugathasan has a well-established pipeline for obtaining clinical specimens such as biopsy material, whole blood, surgical tissue, and stool samples that upon arriving in his lab are immediately processed into multiple state-of-the-art technologies for research or long-term storage in his frozen Biorepository. In fact, his Biorepository contains thousands of patient samples. Dr. Kugathasan’s team uses the fresh or frozen blood and tissue samples to perform bulk/single cell RNA-sequencing, genotyping, ATAC-seq, and Spatial Transcriptomics, while using the stool samples for microbiome studies. Additionally, Dr. Kugathasan’s team performs functional biologic experiments using epithelial organoids and mesenchymal stromal cells, aka MSC, that have been extracted and grown from patient mucosal biopsy samples. Together, this research approach using genetics, functional genomics, and experimental biology to address important questions in the IBD space have given the field new insight into the behavior of the body during IBD. Moreover, Dr. Kugathasan also has an active clinical research program with five clinical trials underway, along with advanced imaging being used to track IBD complications, the timing and location of occurrence, and why certain outcomes only pertains to certain patients.
Dr. Kugathasan’s work is focused on humans and does not use animal models, relying solely on his patient’s samples for analysis. A primary goal of these efforts is directed at finding personalized molecular signatures of complicated disease and/or biomarkers that will facilitate and improve specialized diagnosis and treatments that would have otherwise been missed or misdiagnosed by previous methods. Currently, Dr. Kugathasan has established many NIH funding for his interest in African-Americans with IBD including one that targets a severe form of Crohn’s disease known as perianal fistulizing disease. Another recent funding he received this year will support the work of the IBD Genetics Consortium with $3.5 million in funding. Another of his latest funding is coming from NIH is called CAMEO, brings in $15 million in funding plans to recruit 450 patients at the time of diagnosis from 27 clinical sites, who will be treated with anti-TNF-alpha within 180 days of diagnosis, to determine their ability for complete healing after 52 weeks of treatment. Dr. Kugathasan has been recognized internationally for his ability to recruit and assemble large patient cohort studies and his team has followed many of these patients over the last 10 years, giving priceless longitudinal data on these patients’ response/outcomes. These latest studies will be yet another significant contribution Dr. Kugathasan will make towards understanding the pathogenesis of disease progression and learn why some people are at risk while others aren’t.
Dr. Kugathasan’s IBD team is comprised of 12 dedicated individuals, including scientific staff including PhD and MD scientists, bioinformaticians, clinicians, and clinical coordinators. Dr. Kugathasan has a well-established pipeline for obtaining clinical specimens such as biopsy material, whole blood, surgical tissue, and stool samples that upon arriving in his lab are immediately processed into multiple state-of-the-art technologies for research or long-term storage in his frozen Biorepository. In fact, his Biorepository contains thousands of patient samples. Dr. Kugathasan’s team uses the fresh or frozen blood and tissue samples to perform bulk/single cell RNA-sequencing, genotyping, ATAC-seq, and Spatial Transcriptomics, while using the stool samples for microbiome studies. Additionally, Dr. Kugathasan’s team performs functional biologic experiments using epithelial organoids and mesenchymal stromal cells, aka MSC, that have been extracted and grown from patient mucosal biopsy samples. Together, this research approach using genetics, functional genomics, and experimental biology to address important questions in the IBD space have given the field new insight into the behavior of the body during IBD. Moreover, Dr. Kugathasan also has an active clinical research program with five clinical trials underway, along with advanced imaging being used to track IBD complications, the timing and location of occurrence, and why certain outcomes only pertains to certain patients.
Dr. Kugathasan’s work is focused on humans and does not use animal models, relying solely on his patient’s samples for analysis. A primary goal of these efforts is directed at finding personalized molecular signatures of complicated disease and/or biomarkers that will facilitate and improve specialized diagnosis and treatments that would have otherwise been missed or misdiagnosed by previous methods. Currently, Dr. Kugathasan has established many NIH funding for his interest in African-Americans with IBD including one that targets a severe form of Crohn’s disease known as perianal fistulizing disease. Another recent funding he received this year will support the work of the IBD Genetics Consortium with $3.5 million in funding. Another of his latest funding is coming from NIH is called CAMEO, brings in $15 million in funding plans to recruit 450 patients at the time of diagnosis from 27 clinical sites, who will be treated with anti-TNF-alpha within 180 days of diagnosis, to determine their ability for complete healing after 52 weeks of treatment. Dr. Kugathasan has been recognized internationally for his ability to recruit and assemble large patient cohort studies and his team has followed many of these patients over the last 10 years, giving priceless longitudinal data on these patients’ response/outcomes. These latest studies will be yet another significant contribution Dr. Kugathasan will make towards understanding the pathogenesis of disease progression and learn why some people are at risk while others aren’t.