Instructor of Research, Department of Nutrition, School of Medicine Instructor of Research, Digestive Health Research Institute Dr. Abigail Basson, Ph.D., RD, LD, is a registered dietitian and NIH-funded Instructor in the Department of Nutrition with a secondary appointment with the Division of Gastroenterology, School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. Abigail’s research goal is to identify mechanisms for targeted dietary manipulation of intestinal microbiota and inflammation that can be used as predictors or therapeutic modifiers of disease severity in patients affected with chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). As such, her research integrates basic science and translational clinical research in IBD, combining clinical nutrition and translational methodologies to identify candidate dietary nutrients that will ultimately be translated to biomarkers associated with ‘person-specific’ therapeutic strategies. On the clinical component, Abigail has focused on implementing IRB-approved strategies to validate the findings derived from her mouse work and is currently the PI of a NIH funded, multidisciplinary diet intervention study in patients at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. View Dr. Basson's Research Website Teaching Information Teaching Interests Nutrigenomics Research Information Research Projects Effect of an Anti-Inflammatory Diet on Gut Homeostasis in Active and Experimental Crohn’s Disease Recent Funding Title: NIH Mentored Research Scientist Development Awards (K01) Award: 1K01DK127008-01 Funder: NIH/NIDDK Role: Principal Investigator Dates: 03/01/2021-12/31/2025 Awards and Honors Pilot Feasibility Award 2019 Digestive Diseases Core Center (DDRCC), NIH/NIDDK F32 Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Grant 2018 NIH/NIDDK AGA Young Investigator Research Travel Award 2018 Digestive Diseases Week Basic Science Travel Award 2018 Crohn’s and Colitis Congress Basic Science Travel Award 2017 Digestive Diseases Week T32 Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Scholar Research Grant 2016 NIH/NIDDK Invited Member 2015 Golden Key International Honor Society Faculty Research Grant 2013 University of the Western Cape Doctoral Research Award 2011 AstraZeneca/SAGES Publications View All Publications Selected Papers a. Basson A, Swart R, Jordaan E, Mazinu M, Watermeyer G. (2014) The association between race and Crohn’s disease phenotype in the Western Cape population of South Africa, defined by the Montreal classification system. PloS ONE; 9(8): e104859. PMCID: PMC4130615. b. Basson A, Swart R, Jordaan E, Mazinu M, Watermeyer G. (2014) The association between childhood environmental exposures and development of Crohn’s disease in the Western Cape, South Africa. PloS ONE; 9(12): e115492. PMCID: PMC4267820. c. Basson A, Swart R, Jordaan E, Mazinu M, Watermeyer G. (2016) Vitamin D deficiency increases the risk for moderate to severe disease activity in Crohn’s disease patients in South Africa, measured by the Harvey Bradshaw Index. J Am College Nutr; 35(2):163-174. PMID:26430776. d. Basson A, Rodriguiez-Palacios A, Cominelli F et al. (2019). Human gut microbiome transplantation in ileitis prone mice: a tool for the functional characterization of the microbiota in inflammatory bowel disease patients. Inflamm Bowel Dis. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 31750921. e. Basson A, Rodriguez-Palacios A., Cominelli F, et al. (2020). Replacing Animal Protein with Soy-Pea Protein in an ‘American diet’ Controls Crohn’s Disease-like Ileitis Regardless of Firmicutes: Bacteroidetes ratio. J Nutr. 2021. PMID: 33484150. Education PhD Public Health & Nutrition University of the Western Cape, South Africa 2015 Certificate Nutrigenomics University of Arizona 2010 MSc Clinical Nutrition Science New York University 2005 BSc Dietetics Rutgers University 2003 Residencies, Internships and Fellowships Dietetic Internship St Vincent's Catholic Hospital, NYC 2006 Postdoctoral Fellowship Division of Gastroenterology, CWRU 2019