Related research
Part of a global research landscape
This project contributes a Colombian, integrative biomarker perspective. The programs below offer complementary expertise in IBD cohorts, mucosal immunology, microbiome science, biomarkers, and inflammation-to-cancer biology. Links are provided for scientific context—not to imply formal collaboration.
Centers and labs to follow
BOGOTÁ · COLOMBIA · HOME GROUP
InMubo · Universidad El Bosque
The Cellular and Molecular Immunology Research Group connects cancer immunology, mucosal immunity and infection, autoimmunity, systemic inflammation, and new technologies. This is the project’s local scientific home—not merely a comparator lab.
LOS ANGELES · USA
UCLA Center for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
A translational center spanning immunology, microbiome research, clinical cohorts, diagnostics, and precision approaches. UCLA’s Koon Lab emphasizes IBD activity and stricture biomarkers, while the Jacobs Lab studies microbiome–host interactions.
BALTIMORE · USA
Johns Hopkins GI research labs
The Selaru Lab focuses on molecular changes in the transition from chronic gastrointestinal inflammation to cancer—a particularly close conceptual neighbor to this project. The Meyerhoff IBD Center also studies genetic, environmental, and biomarker questions.
STANFORD · USA
Stanford Sinha Lab
Patient-centered IBD research connecting diet, metabolites, the microbiome, and intestinal inflammation. Stanford’s broader IBD program combines multidisciplinary care with clinical and translational investigation.
HONG KONG · CHINA
CUHK plasma DNA research · Dennis Lo group
The Chinese University of Hong Kong group pioneered analysis of cell-free DNA in plasma and helped establish the biological foundations of fragment size, preferred ends, nucleases, tissue of origin, epigenetic markers, and non-invasive molecular testing. Its plasma-DNA work is the relevant comparator for this study; it is CUHK, not a Montréal pediatric IBD center.
INTERNATIONAL NETWORK
International Human Epigenome Consortium
A useful reference for epigenomic standards, datasets, and cross-study thinking when translating methylation signals into reproducible biology.
PATIENT-FOCUSED RESEARCH
Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation
Supports research across disease mechanisms, diagnostics, treatment, and patient outcomes, and provides a broader view of priorities in the IBD field.
Where this project is distinctive
- It explicitly joins a high-dimensional epigenetic signal with a mucosal immune marker.
- It compares liquid biopsy and colonic tissue, creating an internal bridge between accessibility and anatomical relevance.
- It focuses on a Colombian UC population, contributing evidence from a setting underrepresented in many molecular cohorts.
- It places biomarker discovery in the clinically important transition from chronic inflammation toward colitis-associated CRC.
The liquid-biopsy connection
Colombian genomics context
The CÓDIGO consortium demonstrates growing national capacity for collaborative genomics, bioinformatics, and ancestry-aware interpretation (Mariño-Ramírez, Sharma, Hamilton, and others, 2025). Its population-genomics resource is not a disease-specific methylation control for this project; its relevance is infrastructural and methodological.
The project’s plasma methylation arm also sits within a fast-moving cfDNA field spanning methylation, fragmentomics, tissue-of-origin deconvolution, and single-molecule sequencing. See the verified laboratory and platform comparison for DELFI, GEMINI, CUHK’s plasma DNA work, UCLA methylation methods, Stanford nanopore research, Galleri, and Tagomics.
The most valuable external connections would bring independent validation cohorts, longitudinal follow-up, standardized methylation pipelines, and expertise in mucosal immunology or cfDNA tissue-of-origin analysis.