Mount Sinai and King Saud University Medical City have entered into a three-year partnership to study why inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) appears in certain Saudi families. The research aims to improve risk assessment, early diagnosis, and personalized treatment options for IBD, which includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
The project will examine Saudi families with multiple members affected by IBD. Researchers hope that by identifying environmental and biological markers in these high-risk groups, they can speed up the development of new diagnostics and therapies tailored to individual needs.
King Saud University Medical City will be responsible for recruiting participants and collecting samples such as whole blood, serum, and stool. They will also gather de-identified health records and family histories from people with IBD as well as their at-risk relatives. Mount Sinai will conduct advanced biomarker discovery using multi-omics profiling and other modern research methods.
This collaboration is structured to allow systematic sample collection, data sharing, and joint analysis. The goal is to build a resource containing high-quality biospecimens linked with detailed clinical information and family pedigrees. By focusing on families where genetic, non-genetic, and biological factors intersect, the researchers hope to inform the creation of next-generation diagnostic tools and therapies. If successful, clinicians could identify at-risk individuals earlier, assess risk within families more accurately, and provide more precise treatments.
"Familial IBD gives us a rare opportunity to study the immune system in a context where genetics and environment are clearly interacting," says Miriam Merad, MD, PhD, Chair of Immunology and Immunotherapy at Mount Sinai. "When several people in the same family are affected, we can follow how immune signals shift over time and begin to understand why some relatives develop disease while others do not. The combination of high-quality samples and detailed clinical histories will allow us to map those immune changes with much more clarity. That knowledge is critical if we want to build diagnostics or treatments that truly meet patients where they are, rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all model of care."
Next steps include finalizing details about participant numbers, visit schedules, regulatory approvals, sample handling procedures, and data transfer logistics. After three years, both institutions may consider extending their work based on initial findings.
"For families living with IBD, uncertainty can last for years-especially for relatives who worry they may be next," says Nahla Azzam, MD, Professor of Medicine at King Saud University Medical City. "Familial clustering gives us a valuable opportunity to recognize earlier patterns of risk and disease activity. By following families carefully and linking clinical histories with high-quality biospecimens, we hope to shorten the time to diagnosis and guide treatment choices with greater confidence and better outcomes."
"This collaboration reflects our commitment to building a discovery platform that translates rigorous clinical data into actionable precision medicine," says Abdurahman Niazy, PhD, Director of the Prince Naif Bin Abdulaziz Health Research Center at King Saud University Medical City. "By combining KSUMC's ability to identify and characterize high-risk familial cohorts with Mount Sinai's advanced multi-omics and integrative biomarker discovery capabilities, we aim to define clearer biological signals that support earlier risk assessment and more precise individualized treatment strategies-first for families in Saudi Arabia, and ultimately for patients worldwide."
"This work exemplifies a shared dedication to advancing science in immune-mediated diseases through truly global collaboration," says Manasi Agrawal, MD MS at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine. "As inflammatory bowel disease continues to increase worldwide at an unprecedented pace-closely tracking major environmental and lifestyle changes-the need to unite complementary strengths has never been more urgent. By combining rigorous clinical and biomarker data...we are creating opportunities for discovery that would not be possible independently. Together...we are laying the groundwork...toward earlier diagnosis...personalized treatment strategies-and...enabling IBD prevention..."
