Autoimmune Life Blog

As an immunologist focused on skin-related autoimmune diseases, Peter Morawski, PhD, never thought he’d study viruses. Then the pandemic hit. “It was this crazy, chaotic time. Everything came second to wanting to help,” he says.

As the next chapter of COVID-19 unfolds, we’re hearing that the virus will likely become endemic (in the northern hemisphere) — and it will be part of life for the foreseeable future.

A macrophage is an immune cell that’s like a vacuum, zooming around your body and cleaning up things like old cells and bacteria. But occasionally, macrophages get confused and start eating healthy red blood cells.

This issue of vaccine efficacy has taken center stage in light of the pandemic. A BRI team led by Estelle Bettelli, PhD, and Yevgeniy Yuzefpolskiy, PhD, recently made key findings about how three different medicines for multiple sclerosis (MS) impact response to COVID-19 vaccines.

To better treat — and even prevent — autoimmune diseases, we need to know exactly what causes them. Scientists have long known that genetics play a role in these diseases but are still working to understand how and why.

When Nina and Georg Pedersen were writing charitable gifts into their will, they had two goals: finding meaningful ways to honor their family and recognizing the expert care they’ve received at Virginia Mason.

Understanding how viruses impact the immune system has long been a focus at BRI. Two years of pandemic life have made answering two questions particularly important: Can respiratory viruses like the common cold or COVID-19 start the chain reaction that leads to immune system disease?

One question inspired Erik Wambre, PhD, to dedicate his career to allergy research. “Why can most people eat peanuts without a problem, but some people have a serious reaction to just a small amount?” he says. “What makes one person allergic and not another?”

To most people, the gut is just a part of your body that helps digest food.

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