Autoimmune Life Blog

BRI scientists were sure of one thing when the novel coronavirus struck: They had the expertise to make swift progress toward understanding it and finding better treatments. “Studying how the immune system responds to viruses has been part of our work for years,” says BRI’s President Jane Buckner

When people with diseases like lupus and systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SJIA) are feverish and light-headed, doctors start to worry:  These symptoms can indicate a life threatening condition called macrophage activation syndrome (MAS).

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.