Overview
 
The Autoimmunity & Amyloidosis laboratory is focused on improving monitoring, prognosis and treatment of amyloid and autoimmune diseases. Our translational research program explores clinical samples with novel genomic technology to understand disease mechanism and inform precision medicine.
 
Amyloid disease occurs when abnormal proteins precipitate and accumulate in organs, interfering with their normal function.
 
Autoimmune disease occurs when abnormal immune cells attack healthy parts of the body, instead of infectious microbes.
 
What causes proteins and immune cells to become abnormal in amyloidosis and autoimmunity, and how this can be prevented, are major research directions in our lab.


Research directions
 
Advancing diagnostics and prognostics
  • Defining the molecular characteristics of pathogenic autoantibodies in primary Sjogren’s syndrome and systemic lupus erythematosus
  • Detection of amyloidogenic light chains
  • Improving genetic tests for hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis
 
Uncovering disease mechanisms for precision medicine
  • Single cell genomics on abnormal immune cells responsible for severe autoimmune pathology
  • Single cell genomics on cells producing amyloid proteins
  • Investigating impact of gene and antibody mutations on disease pathology