Factors linked to microscopic colitis
Official title: Risk Factors for Microscopic Colitis
Funded at Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill · NIH-11168863 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This research looks at links between medications, hormones, body weight, and gut bacteria in people with microscopic colitis.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Chapel Hill, United States) |
| Project start | December 1, 2015 |
| Project end | August 31, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $610,279 |
| NIH project number | 5R01DK105114-08 |
| Project ID | NIH-11168863 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults diagnosed with microscopic colitis, especially those with chronic watery diarrhea who can provide medication/hormone history and stool samples, are the ideal candidates.
✕Less likely to help
People without microscopic colitis or those unable to provide required clinical information or stool samples are unlikely to benefit directly from participating.
What this research studies
You would be compared with two groups of other patients to see what differs between people who have microscopic colitis and those who do not. Researchers will collect your medication and hormone use history, information about body weight, and stool samples to study gut bacteria using 16S rRNA sequencing. The team will compare microbiome diversity and specific bacterial groups between cases and controls and revisit earlier unexpected findings about medications and obesity. The goal is to expand earlier case-control work into a larger, more detailed analysis.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the work could point to modifiable risk factors or microbiome features that lead to better prevention or new treatments for microscopic colitis.
How similar studies have gone: Earlier smaller case-control work, including the team's prior phase, found lower gut microbiome diversity in cases and unexpected lack of medication links, but larger confirmatory studies remain limited.
Where this research is happening
-
Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Sandler, Robert S. — Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill
- Study coordinator: Sandler, Robert S.
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.