Rheumatology Research

Research To Advance Care for Rheumatic Diseases

The Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology at BIDMC provides leading-edge, compassionate care to patients living with rheumatic diseases. The division is dedicated to providing the highest quality of care to patients and advancing the field. Clinicians are actively engaged in innovative research in rheumatology and clinical immunology and are training the next generation in medicine through an ACGME-accredited fellowship in rheumatology for physicians interested in academic and research careers.

Investigations are supported by highly competitive grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, and additional funding from foundations and pharmaceutical companies. Present funding exceeds three million dollars annually.

Rheumatology Laboratories

• Adamopoulos Lab: Headed by Dr. Iannis Adamopoulos, the laboratory aims to understand the cellular and molecular interactions of the skeletal and immune systems in a relative recent branch of immunology termed osteoimmunology.
• Tsokos Lab: Headed by Dr. George Tsokos, this lab uses a broad range of research approaches, including lupus-prone mice, genetically engineered mice, metabolomics, RNA sequencing and single cell sequencing, and bioinformatics. 

Division Research

Research activities within the division include:

• Study of immune cell signaling events in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus
• Study of regulatory T cells in patients with autoimmune diseases
• Study of Il-17 producing cells in autoimmune diseases
• Study of mechanisms that are involved in the development of lupus nephritis
• Studies to understand the propensity of patients with lupus to infections
• Study of the role of complement in the expression of tissue damage
• Preclinical studies in lupus-prone mice and other engineered mice to characterize disease mechanisms and to develop novel therapeutics