Affecting more than 1.6 million Americans, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (UC) – known collectively as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) – are painful, chronic conditions that attack the gastrointestinal tract which is responsible for digestion of food, absorption of nutrients and elimination of waste. While both inflammatory bowel diseases have similar symptoms, including diarrhea, abdominal pain, weight loss and fatigue, Crohn’s disease can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract, whereas ulcerative colitis is limited to the colon. Although progress has been made in IBD and microbiome research, the cause of and cure for IBD are unknown.