Fran Lund, Ph.D., an internationally recognized scientist who has uncovered crucial additional roles for the immune system’s antibody-generating B cells, has been selected for the academic medical center’s highest faculty honor. Learn more about her career and current work in immune memory in this article.

UAB is ranked No. 164 based on exceptional academic research portfolio and its overall global and regional reputation.

Tony Merriman, PhD, FRSNZTony Merriman, PhD, FRSNZ, professor in UAB’s Division of Immunology and Rheumatology and internationally recognized leader in the genetic basis of gout, published “A genome-wide association analysis reveals new pathogenic pathways in gout” in the journal Nature Genetics.

We are looking for volunteers to participate in a clinical study to advance lupus treatment.If you are interested in seeing if you may qualify for an ongoing clinical study, please contact Christina Ndolo at cmndolo@uabmc.edu.

J. Claude Bennett, M.D., who served as UAB president from 1993 to 1996, passed away on Aug.

Three students who will present their work at the Summer Expo on Thursday explain the benefits of joining a UAB lab, from peer learning to practicing professional skills and more.

Orlando Gutiérrez, M.D., will be appointed senior associate dean for Clinical and Translational Research in the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine and director and contact principal investigator of the UAB Center for Clinical and Translational Science.

Researchers from the UAB School of Optometry are currently recruiting those with dry eyes to participate in a research study looking at how a part of your eye's immune system called the complement system is involved in dry eye disease. If eligible, you will be asked to have your eyes evaluated three times, each visit being 3 to 17 days apart.

The program seeks to support and foster multidisciplinary collaborations, especially between UAB clinicians and basic and physician scientists.

The MyLupus app is a patient-friendly, patient-focused decision-aid tool for people from all backgrounds with moderate to severe lupus.

Charles Elson, M.D., has developed an “antivaccine” that could remove the faulty memory cells that drive this autoimmune disorder. He launched ImmPrev Bio, Inc., in order to reach a first-in-human clinical trial.

UAB is looking for participants for a study investigating the effects of a new study medication on symptoms of fibromyalgia. We are looking for women aged 25-65 who are diagnosed with fibromyalgia OR are experiencing chronic widespread bodily pain.

Lung-resident memory B cells produced during influenza are long-living immune cells that migrate to the lungs from draining lymph nodes and lie in wait as early responders that can quickly react to future infections. They are key sentinels against subsequent viral variants.

The study, funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, will compare two pathways of post-fracture patient care.

Knowledge of this previously unrecognized mechanism may aid therapy for patients with interleukin-6 signaling mutations and hyper-IgE Syndrome, or HIES.

Description of this mechanism offers a promising therapeutic target to limit lung injury and death. Lower respiratory tract infections, including bacterial pneumonia, are the fourth-leading cause of death worldwide, with 120 million to 156 million cases and 1.4 million deaths a year.

These effector memory B cells appear poised for a rapid serum antibody response upon secondary challenge one year later, and evidence shows that the cells in this subset differ from all previously described memory B cell subsets.

Dr. Ken Saag, 2022 ACR PresidentKen Saag, MD, MSc, delivered a stirring presidential address at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting in October 2022.

Kenneth Saag, M.D., Msc, delivering the Presidential Address at the 2022 American College of Rheumatology Annual MeetingThe UAB Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology has been ranked among the best in the nation by the U.S. News & World Report in its 2023-2024 Best Hospitals Rankings.

Dr. Jasvinder Singh, senior authorMany genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have begun the work of identifying genetic loci of osteoarthritis.

Megan Leask, Ph.D., InstructorMegan Leask, Ph.D., has received an NIH/NIAMS Competitive Diversity Supplement for an existing R01 awarded to Dr. Richard Reynolds for her research titled, "Functional and Integrative OMICS of Recurrent Gout Flares.” Leask is Indigenous Māori from New Zealand who joined her mentors Drs.

Clinical Study for Patients with Dry Eye Associated with Sjögren’s Disease. If you are an adult with Dry Eye Disease associated with Sjögren’s, you may be eligible to take part in a clinical research study being conducted by Sylentis S.A.U.

One UAB patient uses her transformational story to spread awareness of scleroderma.

U.S. News & World report named UAB Hospital as the best hospital in Alabama.

UAB rheumatologists will begin seeing patients at the UAB Hoover Primary Care clinic in July 2022.

Dr. Jeffrey Curtis wants to use virtual reality to help patients with rheumatoid arthritis experience how the disease may worsen over time in the future to improve shared decision making about their treatment choices in the present.

How can physicians help patients with rheumatoid arthritis when methotrexate fails? It was hoped that a new class of oral medication held the answer, but the FDA issued a black box warning for JAK inhibitors last year citing major adverse cardiac events and cancer as safety concerns.

Maria I. Danila, MD, MSc, MSPH Our understanding of how to best use telemedicine for rheumatology patients began with our need to care for patients with chronic illness during the height of the COVID pandemic.

The American College of Rheumatology is the premier society for the advancement of rheumatology in the U.S. This year’s ACR President, a newly designated Master, and a Distinguished Fellow all call UAB home.

Researchers explore how to help budding scientists fall in love with a field that is incredibly important but can be “very overwhelming” to start.