Every year, we invite postgraduate students based in the UK to apply for up to £5000 worth of funding and our support with a project related to coeliac disease as part of their studies. We feel that it’s important to support students and early career researchers who have an interest in coeliac disease research. We are delighted to announce that after review by our Member Review Panel and Research Awards Panel, four exceptional projects have been awarded funding for the 2024/2025 academic year.  

Project 1 - Gluten free refractory CBT: an online cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) group intervention designed to reduce anxiety in adults with refractory coeliac disease 

Melissa Figueiredo, University of Surrey

 "This research is the first to prioritise the wellbeing of individuals with refractory coeliac disease (RCD) from a therapeutic standpoint. I have co-developed a group intervention with an individual diagnosed with RCD type 2, to provide an empathic and psychologically informed approach, in developing skills on managing anxiety specific to RCD. I’m grateful to Coeliac UK for their support, I am hopeful that this group intervention can resonate with many individuals with RCD and provide further recognition as to the importance of psychological wellbeing of those with coeliac disease.”

Melissa’s project will focus on adapting a psychological intervention that was designed to support people with chronic pain so that it can potentially be used to reduce anxiety in people with refractory coeliac disease type 1 and type 2. Refractory coeliac disease is sometimes referred to as non-responsive coeliac disease because patients continue to experience symptoms even when following a strict gluten free diet. If you’d like to read more about refractory coeliac disease, you can do so here. 

The diagnosis process for refractory coeliac disease typically involves repeat endoscopies and biopsies and it is typically treated with medications such as immunosuppressants or steroids which are not always successful. This can be mentally challenging, particularly alongside unpredictable symptoms.  

This project will first look to develop a group cognitive behavioural therapy intervention with input from people with lived experience of refractory coeliac disease as well as a supervisor from the British Association for cognitive and behaviour psychotherapies and a specialist refractory coeliac disease dietitian. Following this, the project will then evaluate if the intervention is effective at alleviating anxiety by inviting patients with refractory coeliac disease to take part in the intervention and measuring outcomes such as anxiety, symptoms, pain and quality of life.

Project 2 - Supporting families: A psychological intervention and visual resources for children with coeliac disease 

Rachel Francois Walcott, University of Surrey

“This project has been shaped by those with lived experience of coeliac disease. By working directly with families, we’ve created an intervention that reflects their needs and experiences. This research is an important step toward providing meaningful psychological support, and I hope it leads to further developments that make a real difference in the lives of children with coeliac disease and their caregivers across the UK". 

Rachel’s project is looking to assess the effectiveness of a resource which has been designed to support children with coeliac disease as well as their families and caregivers. The purpose is to improve quality of life for the whole family and to ensure the child is able to adhere to a strict gluten free diet.  

A pilot study developed a support resource for families and children consisting of a self help eBook and worksheets for caregivers to build psychological strategies. Families were invited to test the intervention, and slots were filled within less than 24 hours showing high interest.  Feedback from the pilot study was positive but Rachel is planning to take on board suggestions for improvement to enhance the original resource by introducing 2 new elements to the intervention: 

1. Online peer support workshops for caregivers to connect with one another for practical skills and a support network.  
2. Child specific visual resources to empower children, including those who struggle with language barriers or traditional means of communication.

The newly refined intervention will be tested in a full scale randomised control trial which will determine if the full resource is effective in making families feel supported and able to manage coeliac disease.

Project 3 - RNA-based sequencing of immune T-cell receptors for accurate diagnosis of coeliac disease 

Heeyeon Christina Lee, University of Cambridge

"I am pleased to have been awarded funding from Coeliac UK for this exciting project looking at gamma-delta T-cell receptor repertoires for a more objective means of diagnosing coeliac disease. I hope that this project will open more doors for further research and allow us to improve the way we diagnose coeliac disease in the future."

Heeyeon’s project is going to look to develop a new method to accurately diagnose coeliac disease.  

In patients with coeliac disease, immune cells (T lymphocytes) attack the small intestine. Previous research has shown that in patients with coeliac disease these cells have specific receptors. Follow on research, investigated if coding the DNA of these receptors could be used to identify coeliac disease by finding receptors which are unique to people with coeliac disease. Initial work was promising but was not useful in a clinical setting as each receptor only contains one single copy of DNA which can be easily damaged by the chemicals required for the method. 

Christina’s project will look to build on previous learnings and investigate if it’s practical to read the genetic code in RNA (ribonucleic acid) of each receptor rather than the genetic code in DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) as previously attempted. It is potentially more practical as each receptor has multiple copies of RNA containing the same information as the single piece of DNA. The method will look at RNA to identify receptors specific to coeliac disease and if successful follow up work would focus on looking at immune cell receptors in blood samples rather than biopsies for a less invasive test.  
In the future, findings from this work could lead to a method of diagnosis that wouldn’t require patients to consume gluten for an accurate result.

Project 4 - Exploring the role of immune gamma delta T cells in coeliac disease symptom type and severity 

Amelia Kopacz, University of Oxford

“Gamma delta T cells in coeliac disease are an interesting but unexplored avenue. I am very grateful that the funding from Coeliac UK has given me the opportunity to study them, and I look forward to the insights this project could bring into why different people experience coeliac disease in different ways, comparing samples from people with different levels of symptom severity.” 
 
Amelia’s project is going to explore why different people experience symptoms of coeliac disease differently. Currently we do not understand how or why the immune response to gluten causes a wide range of different symptoms or why symptom severity can vary so greatly from person to person.  It is widely accepted that a subset of immune cells known as gamma delta T lymphocytes are increased in patients with coeliac disease. This project will aim to investigate if these immune cells have a role in causing symptoms and if they determine how severe symptoms are. 
 
The study will collect both blood and gut tissue samples from patients with coeliac disease who experience no symptoms at all, patients with coeliac disease who experience mild symptoms and patients with coeliac disease who experience severe symptoms of coeliac disease. The immune cells (gamma delta T lymphocytes) will be extracted from these samples so that the number of these immune cells and types of receptors and markers they display can be compared. This will be investigated using a technique called flow cytometry.  
 
It is hoped that making these comparisons will enhance understanding of why people experience symptoms so differently and might provide ideas for future treatments.