Dr. Aleixo Muise, is a Professor in the Departments of Biochemistry and Pediatrics at the University of Toronto and is a Senior Scientist in the Cell Biology Program, Research Institute, Hospital for Sick Children. He is co-Director of the SickKids IBD Centre and holds the Canada Research Chair in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease. His clinical and research focus centers on understanding the pathogenesis of severe forms of intestinal disease in very young children, including inflammatory bowel disease. Unfortunately, these patients often do not respond to conventional therapies, suffer significant morbidity and are at risk of premature death. Using state-of-the-art techniques to characterize molecular defects, including next-generation sequencing, cellular and animal models and human organoids, his group has identified TTC7A, PLVAP, ARPC1B, SYK,ITGAV and other gene variants as the cause for monogenic intestinal diseases. The overall goal of his lab is to develop a precision medicine approach to better treat IBD patients by elucidating the underlying genetic/functional causes.