Collagen Remodeling in Intestinal Fibrosis | Webinar

Collagen Remodeling in Intestinal Fibrosis: Non-invasive monitoring and emerging therapies

Overview

Join our webinar to learn more about intestinal fibrosis in inflammatory bowel disease, with a focus on extracellular matrix remodeling, collagen biomarker assessment, and emerging therapeutic strategies for fibrostenotic complications in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

Agenda

Introduction and welcome | Prof. Dr. Morten Karsdal

Navigating the Intestinal fibrosis landscape | Dr. Bram Verstockt

Fibro-inflammation in IBD | Dr. Joachim H. Mortensen

Emerging collagen biomarkers for fibrostenotic Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis | Dr. Anja Poulsen

Scientific topics

Intestinal fibrosis is a major complication of inflammatory bowel disease, particularly Crohn’s disease, where persistent inflammation and dysregulated tissue repair can lead to excessive extracellular matrix deposition, bowel wall thickening, and fibrostenotic disease. Despite its clinical impact, intestinal fibrosis remains difficult to monitor non-invasively, and effective anti-fibrotic treatment options are still limited.

This webinar explores the evolving intestinal fibrosis landscape, including the role of fibro-inflammation, extracellular matrix remodeling, and collagen turnover in disease progression. Particular focus will be placed on how serological biomarkers may support non-invasive assessment of mucosal damage, intestinal fibrosis, and fibrostenotic complications in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

By highlighting advances from the FibroTarget consortium, emerging collagen biomarkers, and novel therapeutic approaches, the webinar will address how improved disease monitoring and targeted anti-fibrotic strategies may help change the current status quo in IBD management.

Speakers

Dr. Bram Verstockt

• Dr. Bram Verstockt is a Principal Investigator and Assistant Professor at KU Leuven and a staff member of the IBD team within the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at University Hospitals Leuven.
• He specializes in the care of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and leads the multidisciplinary IBD clinic in close collaboration with colorectal surgeons and the broader IBD care team.
• Dr. Verstockt is a pioneer of intestinal ultrasound (IUS) in Belgium and became the country’s first ECCO-ESGAR certified IUS specialist after advanced fellowship training at Lüneburg University.
• His research focuses on non-invasive disease monitoring in IBD, with particular emphasis on intestinal ultrasound, imaging optimization, radiomics, and artificial intelligence.
• He completed a PhD entitled “Predicting outcome in inflammatory bowel diseases: a multi-omics approach – creating opportunities for personalised medicine”, supported by the Flemish Foundation for Scientific Research (FWO).
• His translational research integrates multi-omics approaches, proteomics, biomarkers, and organoid models to better understand IBD heterogeneity, including fibrostricturing disease, perianal disease, and fatigue.
• Dr. Verstockt is co-founder of the COLLIBRI proteomics consortium, advancing biomarker discovery and precision medicine in IBD.
• He has held major international leadership roles, including Chair of Y-ECCO, Chair of the IBUS Scientific Committee, and currently serves on multiple ECCO, IBUS, and Belgian IBD scientific boards.
• He is Associate Editor of the Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis and an active reviewer for leading journals, funding bodies, and international conferences.
• His achievements have been recognized with numerous awards, including the ECCO Young Investigator Award (2025)and the UEG Rising Star distinction (2025), highlighting his impact on translational gastroenterology and IBD research.

Dr. Anja Poulsen

• Dr. Anja Poulsen is a gastroenterologist specializing in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), with more than 15 years of clinical experience.
• Her work combines advanced patient care with translational research, clinical trial development, and implementation of novel therapies.
• She focuses on improving outcomes for patients with Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, fistulizing disease, microscopic colitis, and intestinal fibrostenosis.
• Dr. Poulsen is Founder and Lead of the CD-FIB initiative, a translational research program focused on fibrostenosing Crohn’s disease and progression to end-stage intestinal damage.
• The CD-FIB program integrates clinical data, imaging, biobanking, tissue analysis, and serological biomarkers.
• Her research emphasizes biomarker-driven endpoints for clinical trials, disease stratification, and monitoring of intestinal fibrosis progression.
• She has strong expertise in clinical trial design, evaluation of emerging treatments, program development, and research infrastructure.
• Dr. Poulsen is IBUS certified in intestinal ultrasound and uses it routinely in clinical practice.
• She works across multidisciplinary collaborations to connect clinical care, data-driven research, and translational biomarker development.
• Her work is closely aligned with ECM-focused research through its emphasis on fibrosis, intestinal tissue remodeling, and objective markers of disease progression.

Dr. Joachim H. Mortensen

• Dr. Mortensen joined Nordic Bioscience in 2013 and currently serves as Head of Department of Gastrointestinal Diseases.
• The group’s research activities span from biomarker discovery to preclinical and clinical trial exploration focusing on the development and validation of blood-based biomarkers to quantify fibro-inflammation which covers neutrophil activity, mucosal damage and intestinal fibrosis in serum of patients with gastrointestinal diseases e.g. inflammatory bowel disease.
• The group’s primary focus is to evaluate pharmacodynamics changes, efficacy and monitoring of response to various treatments using biomarkers reflecting fibro-inflammation.
• Biomarkers are developed to support and understand fibro-inflammation-associated IBD disease progression and response to treatment, where the biomarkers are applied from target selection to clinical trial monitoring.

This webinar is hosted co-hosted together with the International Society of Extracellular Matrix Pharmacology.