Autoimmune Life Blog

Community and news about autoimmune diseases, allergies and more.

Blog Main Image - Downtown Seattle Skyline Smokey
October 14, 2021

How Does Wildfire Smoke Impact Your Health?

We’ve become hyper-aware of health hazards spread through the air, and that isn’t limited to infectious diseases like COVID-19. Another problem is becoming alarmingly commonplace: wildfire smoke.

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Blog Main Beth Maree Doolan Editorial
September 28, 2021

Joining Research to Target T1D at the Source

It was the dead of the night in Brisbane, Australia. Maree Doolan, then a nurse, was in the middle of a long shift. “We were messing around and decided to take our blood sugars,” she says. “I was shocked that mine was quite high, in the 280 range.

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Blog Main Image - Scientific T1D Humanized Mice
September 23, 2021

TSLP: From Intriguing Protein to Groundbreaking Therapy

It’s the 1990s in Seattle. Grunge music is getting national play. Amazon operates out of a garage. And a mysterious protein catches the eye of Steve Ziegler, PhD.

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Blog Main Image - 3D COVID Particles Colored
September 14, 2021

The Current State of COVID-19: How Dangerous is Delta and Other Key Questions

At this point, we’ve lived through many phases of the pandemic: closing schools and sanitizing surfaces. Mask mandates and mRNA vaccines. Now, we’ve reached a new phase, with still more questions: How dangerous is the Delta variant?

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Blog Main Image - T1D Diabetes Medical Technology
August 31, 2021

Beyond Insulin: Beyond BRI's Quest to Stop Type 1 Diabetes

The discovery of insulin 100 years ago transformed type 1 diabetes (T1D) from a death sentence to a chronic illness. Yet T1D is still a relentless disease with no cure.

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Blog Main Image - 3D Vaccine Bottles Arranged Grid Blue
August 19, 2021

Understanding COVID-19 Vaccine Response: New Studies for Autoimmune Disease and Down Syndrome

Throughout the pandemic, Cate Speake, PhD, and the Center for Interventional Immunology have conducted countless COVID-19 studies — from understanding how the immune system responds to the virus to testing the Pfizer vaccine.

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Blog Main Image - BRI Boeing Classic Snoqualmie
August 10, 2021

The Boeing Classic is Back!

The Boeing Classic is back! After the event was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic, we can’t wait to host the annual golf tournament and fundraiser from August 16-22, 2021.

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Blog Main Image - Andrea Williams (Editorial)
July 27, 2021

Hiking and Backpacking with Type 1 Diabetes: Tips and Stories from A Washington Hiker

After six miles and several hours of hiking in the heat of the day, Andrea Williams reached her destination: A view of Mount Rainier so close and clear that she couldn’t even fit the whole mountain in a photo. Then she checked her blood sugar.

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Blog Main Image - 2D Abstract Doctor Examining Giant Chest X-Ray
July 22, 2021

Using Data to Fight Asthma

Picture this: A kid joins an asthma study and donates a blood sample through a new research network called Childhood Asthma in Urban Settings (CAUSE). That sample could travel as far as 3,000 miles to get to BRI. 

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Blog Main Image - Woman Shadow Question Mark
July 15, 2021

Immunowhat? Making Sense of What It Means to be Immunocompromised

Words like “immunocompromised” are broad by design: They’re meant to encompass how a wide variety of conditions impact the immune system.

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