Wyss Institute at Harvard University May 21 2026 Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which comprises the inflammatory conditions Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, affects about 1.6 million Americans, many of whom cannot be effectively treated. This mostly is due to a lack in understanding of what exactly causes the increased inflammation, fibrosis, and compromised intestinal barrier that underlie this disease and its manifold symptoms, ranging from severe abdominal pain, to diarrhea, weight