The Lowance Center for Human Immunology, led by Emory Division of Rheumatology Director Ignacio Sanz, MD, cuts across traditional academic divisions in medicine and translates new knowledge in basic immunology to human immune-mediated diseases.
Lowance Center Goals
The overall goal of the Lowance Center for Human Immunology is to understand the immunological and molecular mechanisms responsible for human autoimmune, inflammatory and allergic diseases. The Lowance Center studies both the innate and adaptive arms of the immune response and the mutual regulation of the two components.
In the larger picture, the knowledge of immune function derived from the studies pursued at the Lowance Center also provide important insight into multiple other human conditions including transplantation, cancer and the immune response to infections and vaccination. This goal is pursued through the integrated effort of basic, clinical and translational scientists applying state-of-the-art technology and computational biology as well as advanced epidemiology and outcomes research tools.
In addition to providing fundamental insight into disease pathogenesis and treatment, we aim to identify specific immunological defects that can be used to develop biomarkers of disease heterogeneity in order to better segment diseases into discreet subsets. In turn, disease segmentation is used to select treatments targeted to the defective molecular pathways specifically responsible for different disease subsets. This approach should result in more effective and safer treatments for the individual patient (Precision Medicine). The knowledge derived from our studies will also provide better biomarkers of disease progression and response to treatment. Ultimately, we seek to use this knowledge to reverse well-established disease and to prevent disease development in high-risk subjects.
Research and Clinical Faculty
The Lowance Center contributes to improving immunological knowledge and advancing the treatment of human immunological diseases through the coordinated effort of dedicated scientists and physicians working together with clinical coordinators and nurses.
Bryon Au-Yeung, PhD
Au-Yeung’s research is focused on studying the activation of T cell immune responses. Signaling from the T cell receptor (TCR) is the primary driver of T cell activation. TCR signaling can vary in strength and may impact T cell function. One project in the lab is studying how changes in the strength of TCR signals can influence how CD4+ helper T cells acquire different cellular functions. Other projects include studying how weaker or stronger reactivity of T cells to the body’s own “self” proteins can impact T cell function. The long-term goal of this work is to better understand how T cells promote autoimmunity, and identify ways to block this process.
Cristina Drenkard, MD, PhD
Drenkard is the leading investigator of an NIH-funded study that aims to examine the effectiveness of a generic, community-based self-management program among African American women with SLE. She is co-principal investigator of the Georgians Organized Against Lupus (GOAL) study, a CDC-supported population-based cohort of individuals with SLE and cutaneous lupus from the Southeastern U.S., who are followed over time to examine the role of social determinants of health and biological factors on a variety of outcomes through the overarching lens of racial disparities in lupus. In addition, Drenkard is the leading investigator of a mixed methods study leveraged on the online-based program ‘Hablemos de Lupus,' aiming to better understand illness perceptions and self-management needs of Latino patients with SLE. Drenkard is also the director of a website- and social media-based program in Spanish and Portuguese known as ‘Hablemos de Lupus’ (Spanish)/Falando de Lúpus (Portuguese)’ to educate the Latin-American lay population about lupus.
Frances Lee, MD
Christopher Tipton, PhD
Shayakhmetov, Dmitry: Dr.
Shayakhmetov's research has been focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms of initiation and maintenance of pathologic inflammation, pathogen-host interactions, and innate immune and inflammatory responses to microbial and viral pathogens.
Partner Organizations
Autoimmune Centers of Excellence
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has created the Autoimmunity Centers of Excellence (ACEs) to encourage and enable collaborative research – across scientific disciplines, across medical specialties, and between basic and clinical scientists – in the search for effective treatments for autoimmune diseases.
Georgia Resource Alliance
The Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) grows Georgia's economy by expanding university research capacity and by seeding and shaping startup companies around inventions and discoveries.