This announcement originally appeared in Emory’s Research Roundup.
Ignacio Sanz, MD, director of the Division of Rheumatology, has won a $1 million William E. Paul Distinguished Innovator Award from the Lupus Research Alliance (LRA) to investigate mechanisms that induce an autoimmune response among lupus patients.
Sanz plans to use the grant to further probe the genetic pathways that allow certain type of B cells to mature in lupus patients. In earlier research, in collaboration with Jeremy Boss and Christopher Scharer of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, he found that even at a very early phase in their development, B cells that produce autoantibodies have lupus-specific epigenetic changes that allow them to continue growing when they would normally be destroyed. The award will also help Sanz build on prior studies where he showed that a drug that eliminates B cells can be effective in treating lupus.
The LRA’s William E. Paul Distinguished Innovator Award in Lupus and Autoimmunity was established in 2012 to encourage exceptional investigators worldwide to pursue innovative research projects. Their work is expected to accelerate the development of novel treatments that prevent, arrest or cure lupus and its complications.
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