Food is essential for life — a daily source of calories and comfort. But for the more than 3 million adults in the United States that suffer from Inflammatory Bowel Disease, or IBD, it is also a daily source of pain and discomfort.

Currently, there is no cure for the condition that includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and most people with IBD are diagnosed in their 20s or 30s, meaning a lifetime of symptoms such as diarrhea, gastrointestinal pain, cramping and fatigue.

But new research led by Michigan State University scientists is bringing fresh insight to the IBD table — an unexpected connection between specialized cells in the gut called glia and the genes involved in IBD.

Read the full story on the College of Natural Science website.