 |
Sean Patrick Colgan | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Colorado State University |
| Known for | Research in immunology and gastroenterology |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Gastroenterology, Immunology. Microbiology |
Sean Patrick Colgan (born in Denver, Colorado) is an American medical researcher and professor of medicine. He is a Distinguished Professor and the Levine-Kern Professor of Medicine and Immunology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
Colgan studied at Colorado State University, earning a B.S. in microbiology in 1985, an M.S. in experimental pathology in 1988. He completed his Ph.D. in experimental pathology in 1991. [1] [2] He was also awarded an honorary M.A. in medical sciences from Harvard University.
From 1991 to 1994 he completed postdoctoral training as a research fellow in pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. In 1994, he co-founded the Center for Experimental Therapeutics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and served as its associate director until 2006. [3] He was on the Harvard Medical School faculty from 1994 to 2006, where in 2005 he was promoted to professor. [4]
In 2006, he joined the University of Colorado School of Medicine as professor of medicine and founded the Mucosal Inflammation Program. [2] [5] In 2010 he also became professor of immunology, microbiology and molecular biology He is the Levine-Kern Professor of Medicine and Immunology and was named a University of Colorado Distinguished Professor in 2023. [6] [7] [8]
Colgan’s research has mainly focused on mucosal inflammation and epithelial barrier regulation in the gastrointestinal tract. [9] [10] [11] He has authored over 275 peer-reviewed articles in academic journals. In 2012, he co-authored an Annual Review of Physiology article on adenosine and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) signaling in intestinal injury and recovery. [12] Studies conducted at his laboratory examined how tissue hypoxia and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) signaling, together with purinergic pathways that generate extracellular adenosine (CD39/CD73 and A2B receptor), shape inflammatory responses and promote barrier protection and resolution in experimental models of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). [13] [14] [15] In 2021, his research group collaborated with Rice University bioengineers to apply a pH-sensing Escherichia coli (E. coli) strain as a noninvasive reporter of gastrointestinal acidosis in a mouse model of Crohn’s disease. [16] [17] Colgan and his group have also investigated metabolic reprogramming in inflamed mucosa to identify endogenous pro-resolution pathways and therapeutic targets. His group has investigated creatine and purine metabolism, autophagy, microbiota-derived metabolites, and targeted chemical probes relevant to mucosal repair. [18] [19] [20]
Colgan serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Physiology , Hypoxia , Journal of Molecular Medicine , and American Journal of Pathology . [21] [22] He was formerly section editor of the Journal of Immunology and Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. [23]
Colgan won the 2019 University of Colorado Dean’s PhD Student Mentor of the Year Award and the 2024 University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus Mentor of the Year Award. [8] [24] [25]