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University of Connecticut Health Center Pediatric Research

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Laboratory

Contact the Laboratory

Francisco Sylvester
Email: fsylvester@uchc.edu

Anthony Vella
Email: vella@uchc.edu

In Collaboration

University of Connecticut Health Center         Connecticut Children's Medical Center

Lab Members

Photo of Francisco A. Sylvester, M.D.Francisco A. Sylvester, M.D.

Francisco A. Sylvester, M.D., obtained his medical degree at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (Lima, Peru), with pediatric training at SUNY - Downstate (Brooklyn, NY) and pediatric gastroenterology specialization at the Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto, Canada). Dr. Sylvester joined Connecticut Children's Medical Center in 1996. He is a Professor of Pediatrics and Immunology at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. Dr. Sylvester is a clinician-investigator with a long standing interest on the effects of inflammatory bowel disease on skeletal health in children. A second, more recent interest is on the function of osteoprotegerin (best known as an inhibitor of bone resorption) in intestinal inflammation.

Dr. Sylvester has formed a partnership with Dr. Anthony T. Vella, Associate Professor of Immunology to carry out these projects. Drs. Sylvester and Vella share laboratory space at the University of Connecticut Health Center and conduct joined laboratory meetings.

Dr. Sylvester and Vella's research team includes Drs. Maria Bausero, Andrew Draghi II and Antoine Menoret. Dr. Sylvester also collaborates with Dr. Ernesto Canalis, Professor of Medicine and Dr. Kimberly O'Brien, Professor of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University.

Dr. Sylvester participates in multi-institutional studies supported by the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America and the National Institutes of Health to discover predictors of severe pediatric inflammatory bowel disease.