Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) proudly congratulates the 20 recipients of the 2025 Basic Science Travel Awards. Each awardee has been granted a $1,000 travel stipend to support their attendance and active participation at this year’s DDW in San Diego, CA.
These awards continue DDW’s strong tradition of investing in the future of digestive disease research. This marks the tenth year that DDW has presented these prestigious travel awards, recognizing exceptional promise and dedication in early career basic science researchers.
Please refer to the DDW Mobile App for the time and location of this and other DDW events.
Congratulations to this year’s winners!
Xiangyu Zhao
Shanghai Jiao Tong University Medical School Affiliated Ruijin Hospital
CD47-sirpα Contribute To The Microenvironment Of Intestinal Fibrosis By Mediating The Crosstalk Between Macrophages And Stromal Cells: “Eat Me” Or “Don’t Eat Me”
Fei Li
University of Michigan
Chronic Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation Alleviates Mechanical Hyperalgesia And Cold Allodynia By Enhancing Vagal Efferent Activity In A Rodent Model Of Diabetic Neuropathic Pain
Deiziane Viana da Silva Costa
University of Virginia School of Medicine
Clostridioides Difficile Infection Alters The Transcriptomics And Metabolic Responses In Prefrontal Cortex: A Gut-brain Axis Mechanism
Emily Alway
Duke University Department of Medicine
Cutting Sugar Preference From The Gut
Kara McNamara
Vanderbilt University
Aconitate Decarboxylase 1 Regulates The Inflammatory Response In Colitis And Colitis-associated Carcinoma
Ashley Tran
University of Idaho
Association Of Postbiotic And Metabolic Byproducts Of Gut Microbes With Intestinal Damage And Decreased Muscle Contraction In Type 2 Diabetes
Haiming Zhuang
Shanghai Jiao Tong University Medical School Affiliated Ruijin Hospital
Tgf-β-induced Macrophage Glutamine Secretion Promotes Fibroblast Proline Synthesis In Crohn’s Disease-associated Intestinal Fibrosis
Prasanna Venkatesh Ramachandran
Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Disruption Of Primary Cilia In Hepatobiliary Development: Insights Into Biliary Atresia Pathogenesis
Danshu Wang
Shanghai Jiao Tong University Medical School Affiliated Ruijin Hospital
Gli1+ Mesenchymal Cells Mediate Intestinal Fibrostenosis In Crohn’s Disease Via Smoc2: A Novel Biomarker And Target For Intervention
Katherine Ankenbauer
Vanderbilt University
Osteopontin Drives Epithelial Plasticity In Pancreatic Tumorigenesis
Vinicius Canale
University of California, Riverside
The IBD-candidate Gene, Ptpn2, Is A Critical Regulator Of Intestinal Goblet Cell Number, Function, And Differentiation In Mice
Maximilian Koch
Technische Universitat Munchen, Stanford University School of Medicine
Humans Develop Cd8+ T Cell Responses Against Helicobacter Pylori Targetig Several Caga Derived Epitopes Presented Via Hla-class-i Molecules After Translocation
Hajar Hazime
University of Miami School of Medicine
Microbial Signals Reflect Cancer Risk In Ulcerative Colitis And Drive Tumorigenesis Via Microbiome-dependent And Independent Mechanisms
Carlan Romney
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
The Role Of Nrf2 In Helicobacter Pylori-induced Gastric Inflammation
Yingjie Ai
Zhongshan Hospital Fudan University, Johannes Gutenberg Universitat Mainz
Parp Inhibition Protects Against Portal Hypertension Associated With Metabolic Dysfunction-associated Steatotic Liver Disease
Grecia Rivera-Palomino
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus School of Medicine
Mitochondrial Protein Prohibitin-1 As A Promising Candidate To Counteract Salmonella Typhimurium Infections In The Gastrointestinal Tract
Yongji Zeng
Baylor College of Medicine
A Novel Autophagy-dependent Mist1-ufm1-stk38 Axis Controls Yap1 To Regulate Paligenosis As Differentiated Cells Undergo Metaplasia
Fangjia Hao
Microbiota I-Center (MagIC) Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Development Of A Rationally Designed Bacterial Consortium That Can Restore Gut Homeostasis And Improve Therapeutic Response In Crohn’s Disease
Frederikke Larsen
Western University
Colitis Is Associated With Activation Of A Viral Mimicry Response That Inhibits Colonic Tumorigenesis
Jared Rhodes
Vanderbilt University
Spondin-2 Promotes Dysplastic Development In Metaplastic Gastroid Models