Autoimmune Life Blog

Ollie Harrison's lab’s research focuses on understanding how microbes like bacteria interact with the body — on the skin and in the intestinal tract. His goal is to understand how the immune system interacts with bacteria in the body and how this response can go wrong in disease.

The holidays are a stressful time for anyone, but they can be especially stressful when you have an autoimmune disease. You may be on the hunt for the perfect gift, preparing elaborate meals, hosting extended family, and — oh no! — you completely forgot about that holiday party this weekend.

We recently kicked off a potentially game-changing partnership with the new Allen Institute for Immunology. Fueled by a $125 million gift from the late Paul G. Allen, this partnership aims to learn more about how the immune system works from health to disease.

When some people are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D), the disease progresses so quickly that their pancreas stops making insulin within a year.  For others, the process is slower and this can make their T1D easier to manage.  But what if we could identify these fast progressors early, and ma

In April 2017, Steve Gordon and his daughter, Callie Triller, hiked to Machu Picchu in Peru. Seven months later, Steve started experiencing severe joint pain and learned he had rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Immunotherapy is one of the biggest medical breakthroughs in decades: It can cure some cancers by telling the immune system to find and kill cancer cells.

BRI is inviting Seattle-area adults to participate in the Sound Life Project, a groundbreaking research study to build a baseline of knowledge over time about the human immune system to better understand disease.

Matt Dufort, PhD, fights diabetes one data point at a time. Matt is a bioinformatician at Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI), where he’s been using his data wrangling and analysis skills to find ways to prevent pancreatic damage in people living with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

Making the choice to have a baby can be complicated for any prospective parent. When you have an autoimmune disease, that decision can seem even more complex. You may wonder how pregnancy will impact your disease, and whether your disease will affect your baby.

What is the difference between an individual whose pancreas will continue producing insulin for 50 years, versus someone whose body may suddenly stop generating it within the next 18 months? That is the question Cate Speake, PhD, spends her days trying to answer.