SUMMER 2022 DHIVE IBD Track

The MIT DHIVE Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Track, offered in partnership with the MIT Center for Microbiome Informatics and Therapeutics (CMIT), is an exciting internship opportunity focused on developing student-led entrepreneurial solutions that provide personalized preventative medicine in chronic diseases.

The CMIT IBD Tracker clinical study aims to predict flare-ups in patients suffering from Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), empowering patients and transforming the way we approach the maintenance of chronic disease.

Participants will learn from IBD clinical care and microbiome-based healthcare innovation experts about key needs and challenges related to IBD, engage in brainstorming and ideation activities, and learn how to transform ideas into technical and marketing plans. This track is open to both undergraduate and graduate students.

Dive into Healthcare Innovation and Venture Exploration (DHIVE)

Making new drugs to treat disease is a difficult process that takes many years and is rarely successful. But what if patients could make better use of the drugs we already have? Could knowing when symptoms are going to flare up in advance give patients the edge they need to minimize the impacts of disease, or prevent episodes altogether?

That’s the premise of a new study by CMIT called IBDTracker which aims to predict flare ups in patients suffering from Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). A N=100 patient trial is currently underway that will collect the pilot data that will enable advance prediction of IBD flare ups, empowering patients and transforming the way we approach maintenance of chronic disease. 

Seeking Innovative Entrepreneurial Solutions to Predict IBD Flare Ups

The CMIT is seeking teams interested in taking the knowledge learned from the IBDTracker study and expand it to 1000s of participants nationally. The current implementation of IBDTracker includes a mobile app, microbiome sequencing, biomarker testing, and a wearable device. Any or all of these can be part of the next phase of the trial.

This nation-wide scale up can be implemented in the context of a commercial or non-profit entity and should include technical and business solutions to achieve the following goals:

• reducing materials & service costs (microbiome sequencing, biomarker quantitation)

• reducing patient burden (ease-of-use for sample collection and/or in-home diagnostic devices)

• improving patient experience (UI/UX, real-time data return)

Teams will work to produce a technical plan, as well as a business and marketing plan for providing predictive technology for IBD patient care. Initial startup funds are available from CMIT for compelling business plans and participants will gain access to CMIT's network of world-renowned experts in IBD clinical care and microbiome-based healthcare innovation.