Rate My Professor Gwo-Tzer Ho

Professor Gwo-Tzer Ho is Professor of Gastroenterology in the School of Infection & Immunity at the University of Glasgow, leading the Gut Translational Research Group. He trained in Medicine at the University of Glasgow, earning his MBChB in 1997 and MRCP in 2000. Ho pursued a PhD in genetics under Professor Jack Satsangi at the University of Edinburgh, followed by an MRC fellowship in gut immunology with Professor Balfour Sartor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. He established his independent laboratory at the Centre for Inflammation Research, University of Edinburgh, before returning to Glasgow in late 2024 to take up his current professorial position. Qualified as MBChB, PhD, FRCP, Ho combines research with clinical care for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients and emphasizes patient-public engagement.

Ho's research centers on the complexities of IBD, including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, with a focus on gut mucosal healing, mucosal immunology, immune-metabolism, mitochondrial function, and biomarker discovery. His group bridges discovery science to clinical translation using patient-derived organoids, immune cells, multi-omic data, and real-world NHS clinical datasets, involving nearly 1,500 patients in studies over the past five years. Key initiatives include the Scotland-wide MUSIC study on mitochondrial danger signals in IBD and the UK multicentre MARVEL Phase 2 randomized controlled trial of oral mitochondrial antioxidants in ulcerative colitis. Ongoing projects explore macrophage biology, M-cell function, microbiome-immune interactions, fatigue in IBD, metabolic enhancement of gut repair, novel diagnostics like Granzyme B tests (IDXsense project), and PET-MRI imaging for fibrosis (FATE-CD). Ho's work has secured funding from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, Jon Moulton Foundation, Wellcome Trust, UKRI/MRC, Chief Scientist Office, and European Research Council. Notable publications include Hegarty et al., 'Tissue resident colonic macrophages persist through acute inflammation and adapt to aid tissue repair' (Mucosal Immunology, 2026); Chuah et al., 'Machine learning approach to dissect the clinical heterogeneity of IBD-associated fatigue' (BMJ Digital Health and AI, 2026); Fandinga et al., 'Patient acceptability of partial enteral nutrition as a concomitant therapy to Adalimumab in adults with active Crohn’s disease – BIOPIC trial' (Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, 2026); and Halligan et al., 'Patient-led thematic analysis on the impact of living with Inflammatory Bowel Disease' (Crohn’s and Colitis 360, 2025). His contributions have advanced understanding of IBD pathogenesis and therapeutic strategies.