Digestive Diseases Research
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Arpana Church, PhD, receives $4M NIH grant to study probiotic treatment for obesity
Dr. Church, co-director of the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center and principal investigator of the study, has received a $4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate whether a specific probiotic blend can influence the communication between the gut, the microbiome, and the brain in adults with obesity. The five-year project, Probiotic Regulation of Gut-Microbiome–Brain Interactions in Obesity and Eating Behaviors (PROBE), is funded by the NIH’s National Center for Complementary & Integrative Health. Researchers will examine whether probiotic-driven changes in gut-microbiome-brain signaling affect food cravings and eating behaviors, with the goal of advancing understanding of obesity and identifying new therapeutic approaches.
New Microbiome Vaccine Program (MVP) aims to harness gut microbes and immune system against cancer-promoting bacteria
UCLA has launched the Microbiome Vaccine Program (MVP), an innovative collaboration between the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center and the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy (CIII) focused on developing new ways to prevent and treat cancers linked to disease-causing gut bacteria. The program brings together experts in microbiology, immunology, gastroenterology, and translational science to explore how the gut microbiome and immune system can be harnessed to combat cancer. The initiative is led in part by Elaine Y. Hsiao, PhD, director of the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center, and Jonathan P. Jacobs, MD, PhD, co-director of the center.
Pioneering research on metabolic liver diseases
Dr. Bishuang Cai heads a research team that is focusing on endocytic membrane trafficking in MASH and MASH-related cardiometabolic diseases, most often through human genetic studies.
Research news
Digestive Disease Week Abstracts 2026
One in four transplant hepatologists shows signs of unhealthy alcohol use
Dr. Arpan A. Patel said the findings underscore the need to create systemic support structures to encourage hepatologists to reduce their alcohol intake. Among the recommendations in the study: normalizing access to physician wellness and treatment programs; confidential access to counseling and alcohol use disorder treatments; and reducing stigma about attending state physician health wellness programs, which Patel said have shown success.
Kids with autism show altered gut microbiome-brain interactions
A collaborative study by scientists from UCLA and USC may have unlocked new information about autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the gut microbiome. Changes in the relative amounts of such metabolites may interfere with the signaling between the gut and brain, influencing emotions and associated behaviors.
Chronic stress and obesity work together to accelerate pancreatic cancer development and growth
A new study led by UCLA investigators suggests that chronic stress and an unhealthy diet may work together to fuel the early development of pancreatic cancer, shedding light on how lifestyle factors contribute to one of the deadliest malignancies.
$3M NIH grant to improve follow-up care for colorectal cancer screening in underserved populations
The new study will focus on increasing follow-up care for underserved patients who receive abnormal results from stool-based fecal immunochemical tests (FIT).
$9.5M grant to study relationship between polyphenol intake, Alzheimer’s prevention & brain-gut-microbiome system
Polyphenols — a key component of Mediterranean diets and found in berries, grapes, green tea, and cocoa — may delay cognitive decline.
UCLA researchers tackle challenges in Barrett’s esophagus (BE) diagnosis and management
Drs. V. Raman Muthusamy and Jennifer Kolb are conducting research addressing issues that include which patients to screen, how to identify the condition in a more timely manner, and how to better predict which patients found to have BE will progress to esophageal cancer and thus should be treated immediately with endoscopic eradication techniques.
UCLA Health is the only institution awarded two NIH SCORE grants
Science is still ignoring women's health, but UCLA Health researchers are fixing that. “Men and women could have different disease pathogenesis, different risk levels and different responses to treatments,” said Lin Chang, MD, co-principal investigator. “You really have to consider sex as a biological variable.”