My main scientific interest is to contribute to an understanding of the complex interactions between human intestinal mucosa and the environment in health and disease. I started in the field by investigating functional effects of positional genetic signals in inflammatory bowel disease. A particular focus is on cellular pathways and networks of NOD-like receptors, autophagy and ER stress. We understand that in intestinal inflammation the human host, together with its associated gut microbiome must be regarded as a functional unit. Disease mechanisms can, therefore, only be described when taking both sides of this “metaorganism” into account. For our questions, we also develop novel tools and techniques using large-scale sequencing and bioinformatics to understand regulatory events and cellular/bacterial response profiles in model systems of chronic inflammatory diseases. I am a member of several large-scale sequencing consortia delineating the genomic and epigenomic architecture of human (inflammatory) diseases.