The growing economic burden of these disorders reflect the urgent need for better diagnostic and therapeutic treatments, says world expert Professor Nick Talley.
The National Health and Medical Research Council has chipped in $3 million to the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Digestive Health to continue its mission to find causes of chronic unexplained gut diseases, unlock new targets for therapies and ultimately cure disease.
The centre is led by world-renowned neurogastroenterologist, University of Newcastle Distinguished Laureate Professor Nick Talley, AC.
Assistant health and aged care minister Ged Kearney said the funding would build on the centre’s mission to improve quality of life for people with unexplained chronic gastrointestinal disorders.
More than one third of Australians are affected by disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBI), which include irritable bowel syndrome, functional dyspepsia, and symptoms in inflammatory bowel disease in remission.
As the burden of gastrointestinal disorders increases in Australia, the interconnectedness of the digestive and central nervous systems, often referred to as gut-brain interactions, was emerging as a key factor driving chronic and relapsing symptoms, Professor Talley said.
Professor Talley is a fractional senior staff specialist in gastroenterology at John Hunter Hospital and a researcher with the HMRI Immune Health Research Program. HMRI is a partnership between the University of Newcastle, Hunter New England Health and the community.
“DGBIs cause a very significant burden on patients, including reduced quality of life and productivity, impaired mental health, and very substantial demands on health services,” he said.
“The economic burden of DGBIs reflects the urgent need for better diagnostic and therapeutic treatments.”
Since its inception in 2019 the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Digestive Health has attracted world-leading researchers from universities, hospitals and research institutions in Newcastle, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne who work with clinicians, healthcare providers, patients and carers to improve the understanding, diagnosis and management of chronic digestive diseases.
The latest funding will support the centre over the next five years to generate new knowledge to accelerate the translation of state-of-the-art diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for the management of patients with DGBI.
Professor Talley said the centre’s researchers would combine advanced techniques to identify disease markers and personalised treatments, capture unmet patient needs and test removing dietary and other triggers including gut bacteria.
“Our ultimate goal is for new discoveries to generate the knowledge required for translation into clinical practice to improve public health,” he said.
“We plan to build upon a strong foundation of previous discoveries made by the research team indicating DGBIs are diverse diseases driven by an imbalance in immune-small intestinal microbiome homeostasis, further complicated by environmental factors such as dietary antigens and gut bacteria.
“This work will improve people’s symptoms, quality of life and patient experiences, as well as reducing the burden on the healthcare system from chronic digestive tract disorders.”