Autoimmune Life Blog

Community and news about autoimmune diseases, allergies and more.

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January 17, 2022

Using Your Own Cells to Fight Autoimmune Disease

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?

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January 12, 2022

The Power of Tetramers: A Tool Developed by Bill Kwok, PhD

Bill Kwok, PhD, has made groundbreaking discoveries and built a tool that’s fueled countless advances. But he makes his work and his path to BRI sound simple: Why study the minute details of the immune system? Well, he’s curious — he was always at the library as a kid.

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January 11, 2022

Understanding Omicron: Key questions about spread, variants and where we go from here

Just when you thought you were done being an armchair epidemiologist, the Omicron chapter of the COVID-19 pandemic brings more questions. Will the new variants ever end? Are there any new protections, especially for people at higher risk of complications?

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January 5, 2022

Understanding Down Syndrome and Autoimmunity

You’ve probably heard of Down syndrome. You may even remember that it’s caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21. But fewer people know that almost half of those with Down syndrome have an autoimmune disease. Or that they are at lower risk of solid tumor cancers like breast cancer.

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December 30, 2021

Could medicines for inflammatory bowel disease help fight type 1 diabetes?

Among the many mysteries of autoimmune diseases, we know one thing for sure: These diseases are connected. They often occur when immune cells called T cells mistakenly attack healthy tissue — say the pancreas in type 1 diabetes (T1D) or the gut in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

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December 14, 2021

Inside the Sound Life Project: How BRI is Studying Health to Understand Disease

BRI’s vision is to create a healthy immune system for everyone. But before we can do that, we need to answer a key question: What exactly does a healthy immune system look like?

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November 22, 2021

Monoclonal Antibodies and COVID-19: Insight from an Infectious Disease Expert

Monoclonal antibodies have been getting a lot of attention as a treatment for COVID-19. Monoclonal antibody infusion centers for COVID-19 patients are opening at Virginia Mason and across the country. But what exactly are monoclonal antibodies? How do they work and who needs them?

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November 10, 2021

Why COVID-19 Makes It Harder to Predict This Year’s Flu Season

Before COVID-19, having the sniffles or a mild headache was rarely cause for concern. Now, it’s common practice to stay home at the first sign of a cold. This is one of the reasons that there was very low flu activity during last year's flu season. But will that trend continue this year?

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Blog Main Peter Heldring T1D Equipment Editorial
November 3, 2021

Back to School with Type 1 Diabetes

The transition from elementary school to middle school is a big step for any kid. Multiple teachers instead of one, new letter grades, no recess. It’s a different world, especially when most of fifth grade took place at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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October 26, 2021

Meet Penny: A Goldendoodle Helping Her Teen Manage T1D

When Grace Pilo is in a ballet performance, she uses a continuous glucose monitor and insulin pump to make sure her blood sugar stays in a healthy range throughout the show.

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