Dr. Ciorba is a practicing gastroenterologist and founding director of the Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Center at Washington University in Saint Louis.  As a biomedical researcher, he is dedicated to advancing care in the Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) and colorectal cancer (CRC). His basic-translational research program is dedicated to defining pathways and mechanisms of intestinal inflammation and neoplastic progression. To facilitate our studies, his group has pioneered methods to facilitate robust in vitro growth of human intestinal epithelial cells as spheroids (organoids), 2D monolayers, and tumoroids, as well as Gut-on-a-Chip models.

His lab focuses on epithelial cell biology during inflammation, injury (including radiation), and repair.  As a major research theme, his group has made fundamental advances in defining the role of indoleamine 2,3 dioxygenase-1 (IDO1) mediated tryptophan metabolism along the kynurenine pathway in promoting mucosal homeostasis, epithelial differentiation, intestinal barrier repair.  Revealing the double-edge sword of IDO1 activity, his group has also demonstrated a pathogenic role for IDO1 in the progression of CRC and thereby identifying IDO1 inhibition as a therapeutic strategy. A second major theme of the lab is the study of host-microbial interactions as they relate to intestinal infection and inflammation.  His group has defined the mechanisms by which lactobacillus probiotics mediate intestinal radioprotection and also made seminal discoveries into SARS-CoV-2 intestinal infection.  Overall, these lab investigations have spawned four  Bench-to-Bedside clinical trials addressing unmet patient needs in colitis, enteritis and rectal cancer using probiotics, novel immunotherapies and manipulating bile acids. In addition to my own lab, he is also founding Director of the IBD Research Program at Washington University and uses this platform to foster collaborative discovery between the world-class scientific community and the robust IBD clinical program.