Autoimmune disease happens when immune cells get confused and attack something they shouldn’t — for example, beta cells (cells that make insulin) in your pancreas in type 1 diabetes (T1D) or neurons (brain cells) in multiple sclerosis. A lot of autoimmune disease research is focused on slowing down the immune system cells that cause this attack. But Caroline Stefani, PhD, and Eddie James, PhD, are teaming up to ask a different question: Can we make beta cells more resilient so they survive the attack?
“We think about it like giving the cells a bulletproof vest or a survival pack,” Dr. Stefani says. “We want to see if there is a way — where even if the cells get attacked — we can make them more resilient so they can repair themselves or survive longer.”
Dr. Stefani is an expert in cell repair mechanisms and advanced imaging tools, while Dr. James is an expert in T1D. Together, they recently received an Innovation Fund award to combine two exciting approaches, in a study that could lay the groundwork for a completely new approach to treating autoimmune disease.
“BRI’s Innovation Fund gives us the opportunity to bring different skill sets together to work toward the same goal,” Dr. James says. “We’re combining our perspectives and techniques to answer a question that we could never answer alone.”
