Immunology and Autoimmunity

The goal of the Immunology/Autoimmunity research group is to understand the pathophysiologic contributions of the immune system to various human disease entities so that 1.) Mechanisms of disease are defined, 2.) genetic and bio-markers are discovered lending to accurate assessment of disease risk, disease activity and treatment effects, and 3.) Effective treatments are developed that prevent or ameliorate immune-mediated diseases. Areas of disease-related research include; type 1 diabetes, systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjogren's syndrome, infectious hepatitis, transplantation. Specific areas of immunological expertise embodied in the investigative group includes; T cell biology, regulatory T cells, iNK T cells, B lymphocyte biology, macrophage and dendritic cell biology, methods to induce immune tolerance, autoantibodies detection and role of antibodies in disease, development of small molecular agonists and antagonists, mitochondrial mechanisms of tissue resistance to oxidative stress, immunogenetics, mitochondrial genetics, and tissue and molecular diagnostics.

Faculty:

• - Atkinson, PhD


• - Campbell-Thompson, DVM, PhD


• - J. Chen, PhD


• - Clare-Salzler, MD


• - Liu, MD, PhD


• - Mathews, PhD


• - Morel, PhD


• - Ostrov, PhD


• - Peck, PhD


• - Petersen, PhD


• - Wasserfall


• - Xia, MD, PhD