About / Biography

• Professor Däbritz is a clinical scientist trained in General Pediatrics, Pediatric Gastroenterology and Clinical Nutrition and has a clinical and research interest in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD).
• Professor Däbritz is also Honorary Professor in the Centre for Immunobiology at the Blizard Institute, Barts Cancer Institute the Barts & The London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London (UK).
• Further information can be found at ORCID.
• Professor Däbritz is available for student supervision

Research Projects

• The focus of our research is to discover underlying mechanisms and better therapeutic approaches in the broad area of chronic inflammation and mucosal healing as it relates to adult and pediatric patients with IBD.
• A particular emphasis currently is to define novel ways in which the course of Crohn’s disease can be altered by specific modulation of the monocyte compartment and the innate immune response. 
• A second focus area is determining the molecular basis for the role of myeloid-derived regulatory cells in mouse genetic and experimental models of colitis.
• Clinical research endeavors involve patient-based approaches to develop new prognostic biomarkers in IBD.
• We are also actively involved in ongoing multi-center investigator-initiated and industry-supported clinical trials of new therapeutics and quality improvement efforts.

Research Awards (selection)

• Friedrich Linnehweh Award 2015, German Society of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 
• National Scholar Award 2013, United European Gastroenterology
• Moti L. & Kamla Rustgi Awards 2009, 2010, 2011 & 2013, American Gastroenterological Association
• Harald Goebell Award 2009, German Society of Gastroenterology, Digestive and Metabolic Diseases

Collaborations (selection)

• Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Australia
• Blizard Institute - Queen Mary University of London, UK
• The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, Australia
• University Hospital Münster, Germany
• Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, USA
• Mc Master Children's Hospital, Canada

Patents

• Denson LA, Trapnell BC, Däbritz J. Methods and composition for determining relapse in inflammatory bowel disease. Patent PCT/US2014037927 2014

Publications - Selected Original Articles

• Saeed MA, Ng GZ, Däbritz J, Wagner J, Judd L, Han JX, Dhar P, Kirkwood CD, Sutton P. Protease-activated Receptor 1 Plays a Proinflammatory Role in Colitis by Promoting Th17-related Immunity. Inflamm Bowel Dis 2017; 23(4):593-602.
• Däbritz J, Weinhage T, Varga G, Wirth T, Ehrchen JM, Barczyk-Kahlert K, Roth J, Schwarz T, Foell D. Activation-dependent cell death of human monocytes is a novel mechanism of fine-tuning inflammation and autoimmunity. Eur J Immunol  2016; 46(8):1997-2007.
• Menheniott TR, O'Connor L, Chionh YT, Däbritz J, Scurr M, Rollo BN, Ng GZ, Jacobs S, Catubig A, Kurklu B, Mercer S, Minamoto T, Ong DE, Ferrero RL, Fox JG, Wang TC, Sutton P, Judd LM, Giraud AS. Loss of gastrokine-2 drives premalignant gastric inflammation and tumor progression. J Clin Invest 2016;126(4);1383-400.
• Däbritz J, Judd LM, Chalinor HV, Menheniott TR, Giraud AS. Altered gp130 signalling ameliorates experimental colitis via myeloid cell-specific STAT3 activation and myeloid-derived suppressor cells. Sci Rep 2016;6:20584
• Däbritz J, Weinhage T, Varga G, Wirth T, Walscheid K, Brockhausen A, Brückner M, Ross M, Bettenworth D, Roth J, Ehrchen J, Foell D. Reprogramming of monocytes by GM-CSF contributes to regulatory immune functions during intestinal inflammation. J Immunol 2015; 194(5):2424-38.
• Weinhage T, Däbritz J, Brockhausen A, Wirth T, Brückner M, Belz M, Foell D, Varga G. GM-CSF-activated CD39+/CD73+ murine monocytes modulate intestinal inflammation via induction of regulatory T cells. Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol 2015; 1(4):433-449.
• Däbritz J, Bonkowski E, Chalk C, Trapnell BC, Langhorst J, Denson LA, Foell D.Granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor auto-antibodies and disease relapse in inflammatory bowel disease. Am J Gastroenterol 2013; 108(12):1901-10. 
• Schwarzmaier D, Foell D, Weinhage T, Varga G, Däbritz J.Peripheral monocyte functions and activation in patients with quiescent Crohn’s disease. PLoS ONE 2013; 8(4): e62761.
  
• Däbritz J, Langhorst J, Lügering A, Heidemann J, Mohr M, Wittkowski H, Krummenerl T, Foell D. Improving relapse prediction in inflammatory bowel disease by neutrophil-derived S100A12. Inflamm Bowel Dis 2013; 19(6):1130-1138.
• Däbritz J, Foell D, Wirth S, Jenke A. Fecal S100A12: Identifying intestinal distress in very low birth weight infants. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr 2013;57(2):204-10.
• Däbritz J, Jenke A, Wirt S, Foell D.Fecal phagocyte-specific S100A12 for diagnosing necrotizing enterocolitis. J Pediatr 2012; 161(6):1059-64. 
• Däbritz J, Friedrichs F, Weinhage T, Hampe J, Kucharzik T, Lügering A, Broeckel U, Schreiber S, Spieker T, Stoll M, Foell D.The functional -374T/A polymorphism of the receptor for advanced glycation end products may modulate Crohn’s disease. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 2011; 300(5):G823-32.
• Däbritz J, Preston R, Hänfler J, Oettle H.Follow-up study of K-ras mutations in plasma of pancreatic cancer patients: Correlation with clinical features. Pancreas 2009; 38(5):534-41. 
• Däbritz J, Hänfler J, Preston R, Stieler J, Oettle H.Detection of Ki-ras mutations in tissue and plasma samples of patients with pancreatic cancer using PNA-mediated PCR clamping and hybridisation probes. Br J Cancer 2005; 92(2): 405-12.

• Complete list of publications available at PubMed

Publications - Selected Review Articles

• Musci JOD, Cornish JS, Däbritz J. Utility of surrogate markers for the prediction of relapses in inflammatory bowel diseases. J Gastroenterol 2016;51(6):531-547.
• Däbritz J. GM-CSF and the role of myeloid regulatory cells in the pathogenesis and treatment of Crohn's disease. Mol Cell Pediatr 2015;2(1):12.
• Leal MC & Däbritz J. The immunoregulatory role of myeloid-derived cells in intestinal inflammation. Inflamm Bowel Dis 2015;21(12):2936-47.
• Däbritz J. Granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor and the intestinal innate immune cell homeostasis in Crohn's disease. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 2014; 306(6):G455-G465.
• Däbritz J & Menheniott TR. Linking Immunity, Epigenetics and Cancer in Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Inflamm Bowel Dis 2014; 20(9):1638-54.
• Däbritz J, Musci J, Foell D. Diagnostic utility of faecal biomarkers in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. World J Gastroenterol 2014; 20(2):363-375.
• Foell D & Däbritz J. Biomarkers in juvenile idiopathic arthritis: Translating disease mechanisms into diagnostic tools. Int J Adv Rheumatol 2011; 9(1):8-16. 

• Complete list of publications available at PubMed

Funding

• German Research Foundation (DFG)
• Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America
• The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases