Inflammatory bowel disease
The main types of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis.
Inflammatory bowel disease causes considerable suffering to millions of people across the world and affect around 300,000 people in the UK. Numbers of those affected are rising rapidly but the causes of these diseases are poorly understood.
There are no cures for IBD and treatments generally focus on clinical management of patient's symptoms and, in severe cases, surgical removal of damaged bowel sections.