Autoimmune Life Blog

In March of 2015, 13-year-old Lizzie Blockhus experienced a week of being very tired and not feeling well. “I woke up in the middle of night and was dying of thirst,” she explains. “Then I was at my sister’s soccer game, dying of thirst again and I knew something wasn’t right.

Benaroya Research Institute (BRI) has been awarded another leadership role in type 1 diabetes research. Carla Greenbaum, MD, BRI’s director of the Diabetes Research Program and Clinical Research Center, has been named chair of Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet.

In clinical trials, not all individuals respond in the same way to particular immunological therapies.

Researchers have found at the time of diagnosis with type 1 diabetes that many people continue to produce small amounts of insulin.

A labor of love to honor a much loved man provides funds for type 1 diabetes research at Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI). The annual David J. Fanning Memorial Golf Tournament has raised nearly $200,000 since its inception in 2011.

Biomarkers are key tools for scientists studying autoimmune and other diseases. A biomarker is a measurable characteristic that reflects a normal biological process or disease state.

As a young man, Frank Dvorak had set his sights on a career in aviation. He was in his senior year at the Royal Military College of Canada when he received the life-changing diagnosis: type 1 diabetes. Because of his disease, he was grounded from flying.

Adam’s grandfather was diagnosed at age 12, his father, Reid, at age 29, and his older brother, Isaiah, at age 9. When Isaiah was diagnosed, his mother, Jenifer, began investigating if there was a way to keep Adam and his little sister, Rosie, from developing diabetes.

Celiac disease can be difficult to diagnose and has no cure. Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) recently launched a new biorepository for the disease to collect blood samples, tissue samples and medical histories of people with the disease.

Robert Vernon, PhD, a research associate member at BRI, and his team are pioneers in the development of engineered replacements for tissues and organs lost through disease or trauma.