Autoimmune Life Blog

BRI was formed with a clear plan: First, answer key fundamental questions about the immune system. Then, build on those answers to change lives. This is a very exciting time because we’re reaching that second stage of the plan.

A pattern emerged at the beginning of the pandemic: COVID-19 led to an overly aggressive immune response in some people, causing deadly inflammation.

For nearly 20 years, Dr. Buckner has been working to find a more targeted approach with fewer side effects. And she’s among a handful of scientists pursuing an intriguing idea: Can we use gene editing to change cells that cause disease into cells that protect you from disease?

Since the pandemic started, BRI researchers have been hard at work trying to understand COVID-19’s biggest mysteries — like why people have such different responses to the virus and how it affects people with autoimmune disease.

We’ve been living in a world of COVID-19 for over a year. In the face of a pandemic, BRI’s vision — a healthy immune system for everyone — has become more important than ever. We’re so thankful for the incredible support from you, our community.

When Micah Mansfield learned that he could help scientists better understand the immune system through the Sound Life Project, he didn’t think twice about signing up.

To understand what causes type 1 diabetes (T1D), imagine a spy novel. It starts with a hero, the T-cell, that roams your body like James Bond. The T-cell hunts down enemies — bacteria and viruses — and snuffs them out. Then something goes terribly wrong: The hero becomes a villain.

One goal is to find markers that identify why some people with the virus don’t have symptoms while others get fatally ill. The sickest patients tend to have multiple health issues, which makes it hard to pinpoint the factors related to COVID-19.

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

COVID-19 has put a therapy called hydroxychloroquine in the spotlight — and, at the same time, shrouded it in confusion.