Gut Reaction

The Health Data Research Hub for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

What is Gut Reaction? 

Gut Reaction is a unique, secure data resource designed to facilitate academic and industry research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), which brings together genomic and phenotypic data from patients in the IBD BioResource with real-world data from participating NHS Hospitals and other national datasets. 

Gut Reaction’s mission is to be a world-class, multi-dimensional integrated data resource for research and innovation, which uses a model based on open tools and data standards that could ultimately be scaled up and used in a similar way for other disease areas.

The Hub works with two technology partners (Privitar and AIMES) in keeping patient data safe and secure, whilst allowing health data research to progress unhampered. 

It's all about working with the IBD community to improve treatment options and patient outcomes through the safe, transparent and responsible use of patient data. 

One of our patient contributors, Rosanna Fennessy, discusses her role in and involvement with this project and helping patients understand how their data is being used.

If you live with IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease) and visit your doctor, access treatment through the NHS or support research through participation in the NIHR BioResource or IBD Registry, you create health data. Multiply that by thousands of people and it becomes an invaluable resource for research. This data helps researchers understand the causes of IBD. From this understanding, better treatments can be developed. However, data is not always easy to find or use, slowing important research.

Gut Reaction was funded for an initial 3-year period by Health Data Research UK (HDR UK), through the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF), to facilitate research into IBD by bringing together datasets from different sources.

From September 2022, Gut Reaction will continue as part of the NIHR Bioresource. Working with our partners, collaborators and the IBD community, we will continue to support research that makes a difference to those living with IBD. 


Gut Reaction is a research project that aims to make it easier for researchers to use the valuable real-world data held in the NIHR IBD BioResource, the IBD Registry and participating NHS Trusts. By uniting them in a single, secure research environment, we will create the world’s largest single repository of data from people with IBD.


One of 9 Health Data Research Hubs developed by HDRUK, Gut Reaction is a collaboration between NIHR BioResourceIBD BioResourceCambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustUniversity of CambridgeCrohn’s & Colitis UKAIMESWellcome Sanger Institute and Privitar.

Schematic of processing samples in a biomedical lab

Public involvement is central to Gut Reaction and people with Crohn’s and Colitis will be involved in every step of the way. 

You can explore the data sets available through Gut Reaction using the Health Data Research Innovation Gateway, and apply for access through the NIHR BioResource data access process.

You can also visit the Gut Reaction website.

Gut Reaction video

Want to know more?

You can contact us or speak to one of our team