Today, the Benaroya Research Institute (BRI) announced new research grants awarded in Q1 and Q2 of 2023, including a $3.1 million grant to study inflammatory memory and how to break the cycle of inflammation in patients with skin diseases like psoriasis and atopic dermatitis, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). All grants awarded to BRI in Q1 and Q2 totaled more than $5 million.
The $3.1 million NIH grant (R01AI169893) is led by BRI scientists Daniel Campbell, PhD, and Hannah DeBerg, PhD in collaboration with Dr. Iris Gratz, PhD, from the University of Salzburg in Austria, and aims to address gaps in our knowledge of the body’s inflammatory responses by evaluating how T cells and other structural cells communicate with each other. By studying samples from patients with common skin conditions like psoriasis and atopic dermatitis, the research team will assess hallmarks of the body’s “inflammatory memory”, the process by which inflammation leaves a lasting mark on a tissue that can modify subsequent inflammatory and tissue-repair responses. Ultimately, this work will help develop a better understanding of how inflammatory memory works in tissues like the skin in hopes of one day breaking the inflammatory cycle for patients with these skin conditions.
“We are diving deep into the body’s inflammatory language,” said Campbell. “This research will help us understand how inflammation changes over time in conditions like psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. Ultimately, this knowledge could equip us with the ability to disrupt this destructive cycle of inflammation, providing hope for those grappling with such skin conditions.”
