Autoimmune Life Blog

What if we could take a blood sample from a person with rheumatoid arthritis, zero in on the immune cells that cause the disease, and watch what they’re doing in real-time video?

Immune cells perform different functions in different parts of the body. Some fight off infections in the skin. Others protect the lungs from pollutants. But how do these cells learn to do the right job in the right place? And why does that process sometimes go wrong?

Did you know that BRI researchers aren’t just researchers? They’re teachers, too. In fact, 12 BRI researchers serve on the University of Washington (UW) faculty, two of which also teach at the Chiba University School of Medicine in Japan.

This research update is on a variety of studies that BRI is conducting or collaborating on with other institutions. They are tackling various scientific and immunologic questions that explore innovative ways to fight MS from the lab to clinical studies.

“You can’t lay tracks until you know where the train is going,” says BRI Director Gerald Nepom, MD, PhD. “In immunology research, that translates into discovering what the immune system cells are doing and identifying their different roles.