New Yale Research Center Focuses on Rheumatic and Immunologic Diseases

New Haven, Conn. — A new research group at Yale School of Medicine that is focusing on rheumatic and immunonological diseases—such as arthritis and lupus—has received $3.2 million in federal funding.

The five-year grant from the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases will help fund research by 48 investigators working together as part of The Yale Rheumatic Diseases Research Core Center.

“The center will provide facilities to enhance the productivity of these laboratories, to facilitate scientific exchange, and to offer access to state-of-the-art technology and unique resources that would otherwise be unavailable,” said Joseph Craft, M.D., director of the center, professor of medicine and immunobiology, and chief of the section of rheumatology.

The facilities include a laser scanning microscopy core to provide imaging of fluorescently tagged cells in mice and a laboratory to support development, preservation, and distribution of novel mice that aid in the study of rheumatic and immunological illnesses.

“The center also will support seed grants devoted to the study of rheumatic and immunological diseases, particularly those developed by junior faculty investigators and investigators new to these disciplines,” Craft said. Research projects currently funded with the seed grants include studies on the development of lupus and on the initiation and propagation of inflammation in arthritis and in psoriasis, a skin disease that can lead to arthritis.

The associate director of the center is Mark Shlomchik, M.D., professor of laboratory medicine and immunobiology. Other researchers in the core center include Richard Bucala, M.D., professor of medicine and pathology; Elizabeth Eynon, research scientist in immunobiology; Richard Flavell, chair of immunobiology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator; Ann Haberman, associate research scientist of laboratory medicine; and Mark Mamula, professor of medicine.