Autoimmune Life Blog

Community and news about autoimmune diseases, allergies and more.

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December 14, 2022

Immunology to Change Lives: Where We're Going in 2023

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.

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November 17, 2022

Teplizumab FAQ: Your Questions Answered About New Therapy to Delay T1D

Scientists at the Benaroya Research Institute (BRI) and TrialNet, a global type 1 diabetes (T1D) research consortium, have spent decades working to answer a bold question: Can we stop T1D before it starts?

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September 15, 2022

Paving the Way for New Colon Cancer Treatments

Steven Ziegler, PhD, still has questions about a protein called thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) — even after studying it for more than 30 years. The Ziegler Lab helped establish that TSLP plays a role in asthma, lupus and several cancers.

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September 14, 2022

Unmasking Lupus: The Great Masquerader

Hayley Waterman was in college when her mom was diagnosed with a mixed connective tissue autoimmune disease. “It’s similar to lupus but even more vague in definition,” Hayley says.

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September 14, 2022

Exploring New Frontiers of Skin Immunology

Immune cells perform different functions in different parts of the body. Some fight off infections in the skin. Others protect the lungs from pollutants. But how do these cells learn to do the right job in the right place? And why does that process sometimes go wrong?

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September 14, 2022

Clues into Crohn's: Exploring Why the Immune System Attacks Beneficial Bacteria

Your gut is home to a huge community of bacteria called the microbiome. Some bacteria are good, some are bad — and some might hold the key to understanding an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

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August 8, 2022

COVID-19 Hybrid Immunity Study: 3 Key Findings

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.

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August 8, 2022

What does it mean for COVID-19 to be endemic?

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.

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July 28, 2022

Same cell, different problem: Learning how iHPCs lead to complications in autoimmune disease, malaria

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.

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June 17, 2022

Do MS Treatments Make Vaccines Less Effective?

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.

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