Dr. Galina Bogatkevich is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Rheumatology at Medical University of South Carolina, USA. She had great knowledge in the fields of Rheumatology & Pharmacology. From 1996 to 1997 she worked as an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology in the Minsk Medical Institute, Belarus.

Dr. Bogatkevich’s research interests focus on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of pulmonary fibrosis in scleroderma patients. The ongoing research in the laboratory can be subdivided in three major projects:

Studying thrombin and thrombin-induced signaling molecules in scleroderma lung disease. The goals of the current research in this area are to define mechanisms by which thrombin regulates C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP) in lung fibroblasts and alveolar epithelial cells and to determine the role of CHOP in pulmonary fibrosis.

 Examining the role of IQ motif containing GTPase activating protein (IQGAP1) in scleroderma pulmonary fibrosis. We recently identified IQGAP1 as a protein that is consistently elevated in lung fibroblasts isolated from SSc patients. We also found that IQGAP1 expression is induced in normal lung fibroblasts exposed to connective tissue growth factor (CTGF); moreover, suppression of IQGAP1 by RNA interference decreases smooth muscle α-actin (SMA) expression and attenuates bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. We believe that the elucidation of downstream signaling pathways of CTGF and IQGAP1 will result in the development of novel and focused therapy aimed specifically at attenuating SSc-ILD.

Understanding the role of genome in SSc-ILD. The morbidity and mortality rates in African American scleroderma patients are higher when compared with SSc patients of other races.  The goal of this project is to fill gaps in knowledge of pathophysiologic links between African American race and SSc-ILD that may account for the racial differences in SSc-ILD outcomes, and potentially other rheumatic lung disease outcomes as well.

Professor Oleg Nadashkevich is known as recipient of the Metro Ogryzlo International Fellowship in Rheumatology (1994). Twice was a Visiting Professor at the University of Alberta, Division of Rheumatology & Immunology. In 2003 – Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Rheumatology / Immunology at the University of Calgary (both Canada).
Professor Nadashkevich has published in the international peer reviewed press primarily on the subjects of systemic sclerosis (scleroderma) and spondyloarthritis.
Professor Nadashkevich is a member of the Editorial Boards of several international journals on rheumatology and dermatology, including Clinical Rheumatology and Advances in Dermatology and Allergology. He is also actively involved in the number of international scientific research groups, such as the Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society, European Scleroderma Trial and Research, Scleroderma Clinical Trials Consortium.

Recently, Professor Nadashkevich has been deeply studying Ankylosing Spondylitis, Psoriatic Arthritis, Reactive Arthritis and Systemic Sclerosis (Scleroderma).

Dr. Yupeng Chen obtained his Doctor of Philosophy from Brown University, USA. He then joined Orthopaedic Department, Rhode Island Hospital/Brown medical school for medical research on biomaterials and drug delivery. Tilldate, Dr. Chen has accomplished 13 peer-reviewed articles/conference proceedings and 3 book chapters. In addition, he has delivered 18 scientific conference presentations. In 2010 Society For Biomaterials annual conference, he received the STAR Awards. Dr. Chen also generates valuable output for industry. He is an inventor of two patents and parts of his research have licensed to companies (Nanovis, IN and Audax, MA) for commercialization. NBC Nightly News reported his research about nanomaterials for bone healing in 2007. For editorial experience, Dr. Chen was appointed as an editor for the International Journal of Case Reports and Images (ISSN 0976-3198) and an associate editor for the Biosensors Journal (ISSN 2090-4959). He also serves as an external reviewer for Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission and a co-chair in Biomedical Engineering Society annual conference, Hartford 2011.
 

Studying advanced biomaterials and drug/gene delivery technology for treating joint diseases.
 

Dr. Lei Wei got MD from China and my Ph.D from Karolinska Institute from Stockholm, Sweden. I am working at Department of Orthopaedics, Brown Medical School since year 2002..He ahs a strong professional background in rheumatoid arthritis,its pathogenesis and treatment.He has served as editor in many international journals.

Lei Wie research interests have included regulation of chondrocyte maturation and axial skeletal development, the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis to develop new diagnostic tools and therapies. The scientific approach includes clinical studies in collaboration with the divisions of Rheumatology and Orthopedic Surgery at Rhode Island Hospital, laboratory research on human patient tissues, transgenic mice, surgery induced animal models, cell and molecular biology.

Charles J. Malemud received the Ph.D. from George Washington University in 1973 and completed postdoctoral studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1977. Since 1977, Dr. Malemud has been a member of the faculty at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine where he is presently Professor of Medicine & Anatomy in the Division of Rheumatic Diseases and Senior Investigator in the Arthritis Research Laboratory. He has published more than 190 papers and reviews primarily in the field of chondrocyte biology. Professor Malemud is on the editorial board of several rheumatology, immunology and musculoskeletal journals and is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Clinical and Cellular Immunology.

Biology of the Musculoskeletal System,
Intracellular Signal Transduction Pathways,
Inflammation,
Pro-inflammatory,
Anti-Inflammatory &Anabolic Cytokines Apoptosis,
Matrix Metalloproteinases,
Osteoarthritis,
Rheumatoid Arthritis,
Fibromyalgia,
Autoimmune Disorders

Andras Perl received his MD and PhD from Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary. He was trained as a resident in Internal Medicine at Semmelweis and as a fellow in Rheumatology/Immunology at the University of Rochester. He held faculty positions at Semmelweis, the University of Rochester, Roswell Park Memorial Institute, and the State University of New York (SUNY). He has been Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology since 1997, Chief of Rheumatology since 2001, and co-director of the MD/PhD Program since 2003 at SUNY In Syracuse, New York. He was listed among the Best Doctors in Central New York and in America since 2007.

His research has been focused on interactions of viruses and the host genome and signaling pathways that mediate abnormal T-cell activation in lupus. His laboratory identified the HRES-1 endogenous retrovirus, mapped it to chromosome 1q42, and recently identified Rab4 as its gene product that confers susceptibility to lupus via increased receptor recycling. His laboratory identified mitochondrial dysfunction, characterized by mitochondrial hyperpolarization (MHP) and ATP depletion, that predisposes lupus T cells to death by necrosis. Activation of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) serves as a sensor of MHP, regulator of receptor recycling, and target of rapamycin treatment.

Joseph A. Markenson is professor in Department of Clinical Medicine at Cornell University Medical Center, USA. He worked as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Cornell University Medical Center in 1976-1984 and promoted to Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine in 1984-1997. He has a strong pression expertise in arthritis and some other rheumatic diseases like osteoporesis.

Rheumatoid Arthritis
Osteoarthritis
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Dr. Imad Uthman is a Professor of Clinical Medicine, and Head of the division of Rheumatology at the Faculty of Medicine and Medical Centre of the American University of Beirut and President of the Lebanese Society of Rheumatology.He has enough qualification and expertise in the  field of rheumatic disease treatment and research.He has worked as editor and reviewer for many international journs and houourable member of various related associations.

His Research interests include the study of the antiphospholipid syndrome, biologic therapies in rheumatic diseases and the clinical characteristics of rheumatic diseases in Lebanon.

Dr. Putterman Professor of Medicine and Microbiology Immunology, and Chief of the Division of Rheumatology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center Bronx (New York). After graduating with an MD degree from the Technion Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Putterman did his internship at Rambam Medical Center and completed his residency and chief residency is at Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem. Following a Rheumatology fellowship and postdoctoral training. Dr. Putterman has remained on the faculty of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine where he also is Director of the Rheumatology Fellowship Program, CoDirector of the Musculoskeletal Disease Course and Director of the Einstein Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies Center of Excellence.

Dr. Putterman’s major research interests are in the field of immunology and autoimmune diseases and specifically the identification and characterization of novel mechanisms biomarkers and treatment approaches to inflammatory arthritis and SLE.

Dr. Micha Abeles is a professor of medicine in the Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology at the University of Connecticut Health Center and Interim Chief of the Division of Rheumatology. Dr. Abeles received his BA from Cornell University and his MD from State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Dr. Abeles did his residency at State University of New York and his Fellowship at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine He is a board certified rheumatologist. He has done extensive research in the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia. Dr. Abeles is a co-author of the 1990 Fibromyalgia Criteria Paper and is known for his work on osteonecrosis in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, Fibromyalgia, Osteonecrosis in systemic lupus erythematosus, Gout, Lyme disease, Myositis, Vasculitis, Polymyalgia rheumatica.

Alexander J Szalai is a Senior Scientist at UAB Diabetes Research and Training Center. In 2010 he was a Scientist in UAB Center for Cardiovascular Biology. Presently he is working as a professor in the department of Medecine in University of Alabama, USA.

To understand the contribution of C-reactive protein (CRP) to maintenance of health and propagation of disease.

Dr. Mountz is a Professor of Medicine and Physician at the Birmingham Veterans Administration Medical Center. Dr. Mountz received a Ph.D. in High Energy Physics and graduated Summa Cum Laude before carrying out a post-doctoral fellowship in the area of biophysics studying bilayer lipid membranes. Dr. Mountz then received an MD from Ohio State University and carried out an internship of residency and a one-year fellowship in Internal Medicine in Rheumatology. Dr. Mountz was a research staff fellow at the National Institutes of Health for five years and also an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Naval Bethesda Medical Center. Dr. Mountz continues an active research program in arthritis and other autoimmune diseases in both mice and humans.

Dr. John Mountz has identified that germinal center development is promoted by high levels of TH-17 and IL-17 in autoimmune BXD2 mice. IL-17 signals through the IL-17R receptor in B cells resulting in increased classical NF-kB pathway activation that activates several genes, including regulators of G-protein signaling (RGS) 13 and 16. Upregulation of RGS genes impairs signaling through CXCR4/CXCL12 and CXCR5/CXCL13 to arrest migration and movement of T cells and B cells, which enables prolonged and stable interaction of B cells and CD4 T cells.

Robert T. Schoen, M.D., M.B.A. is a clinical professor of medicine at Yale University School of Medicine and an attending physician at Yale New Haven Hospital. He practices rheumatology at New Haven Rheumatology. Dr. Schoen received his B.A. from Harvard College, his M.D. from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed an internal medicine residency at Yale New Haven Hospital. He trained in rheumatology as a research fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Schoen is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Rheumatology. He is also current president of the Connecticut Rheumatology Association.

Rheumatology, Immunology, Spondyloarthropathies, Lyme disease.

Dr. Qian Chen is the Michael G. Ehrlich MD Endowed Chair in Orthopaedic Research, Professor of Medical Science, and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Orthopaedics at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University. He is the director of Center of Biomedical Research Excellence in Skeletal Health and Repair in Rhode Island Hospital, a multi-disciplinary translational research center established by NIH. Throughout Dr. Chen’s research career, he received the Independent Scientist Award from National Institute of Health (NIH), the Satterfield Arthritis Investigator Award from Arthritis Foundation, and the Kappa Delta Award from American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Dr. Chen has served on NIH study sections, advisory panels, and the merit review panel of the Veterans Administration.

Dr. Chen’s research interest includes cartilage molecular biology, mechanotransduction, and osteoarthritis.

Anthony Jones is professor of Neuro-rheumatology at Manchester University and leads the Human Pain Research Group. Whilst at the Hammersmith Hospital he pioneered the development of techniques to image neurochemical and metabolic brain responses to pain using Positron Emission Tomography. Over the last twenty years he has used a number of functional brain imaging techniques to understand the normal and abnormal mechanisms of pain perception. There is now the exciting prospect of using some of the insights gained in these studies to develop new approaches to pharmacological and cognitive interventions for chronic pain. He also leads the International Association for the Study of Pain Musculoskeletal Pain Taskforce, and has led the development of National and International Guidelines on the Integrated Management of Musculoskeletal Pain (jointly sponsored by the BSR and the IASP).

His main current goals are to use the current understanding of pain perception to encourage more rational use of current therapies and to develop new therapies.

Shinichi Kawai, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Internal Medicine Omori at the Division of Rheumatology, School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Toho University, Tokyo, Japan. He graduated from Keio University in 1977. He was a Researcher funded by the Training Program Award of the Japanese Society of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the National Institute of Health NICHHD, USA, from 1984 to 1986. He was a Professor of the Institute of Medical Science, St. Marianna University in 1999, and then moved to Toho University in 2004. He holds an additional post of ViceDean of the Faculty of Medicine. He received the Japan College of Rheumatology Award in 2003 and Abbott Japan Award of Clinical Research in Rheumatology in 2009. He is a rheumatologist and also a scientist in clinical studies especially for rheumatoid arthritis. He has also conducted basic biological researches using synovial fibroblasts from the patients.

Clinical & Biological studies of rheumatoid arthritis.

Dr. Shigeki Momohara is an Associate director in the Institute of Rheumatology at Tokyo Women’s Medical University. Presently he is also working as a professor in the same university. Previously he worked as an Assistant Professor & Assosiate Professor in the same University. From 1990 to 1993 he was an instructor in Keio University, Japan.

Rheumatology, Joint surgery, Biochemistry of cartilage, Genomic analysis.

Dr. Julie Schwartzman Morris is a Director of Arthritis Clinic in Jacobi Medical Center and NCB Hospital. She is also a Director in Lupus Clinic, Jacobi Medical Center. Previously she also worked as an Associate Director for a Rheumatology Fellowship Program.

Psoriatic Arthritis, SLE.

Chikao Morimoto worked as an Assistant Professor of Medicine in Harvard Medical School upto 1988. Later as an Associate Professor of Medicine in the same school upto 1995. From 1995 to 2001 he occupied the visiting Professor position in the same Harvard Medical School. In the University of Texas he worked as Research Professor from 2001 to 2005.

Biologics and Rheumatic disorders
Immunology of Rheumatic disorders
Treatment of Rheumatic disorders

Daniel E. Furst is the first Carl M. Pearson Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Medical Center. Dr. Furst received his MD from Johns Hopkins University and two fellowships (Rheumatology in clinical pharmacology). Dr. Furst has been on a number of national committees concerned with rheumatic therapeutics. He recently was co-leader of the ACR recommendations for the use of non-biologic and biologic therapies in RA and is a Master of the ACR.. Dr. Furst has published more than 450 articles and 14 books, including more than 220 research articles. 

Dr. Furst’s areas of research interest include the clinical pharmacology of anti-rheumatic drugs and biologics, and the pathophysiology and treatment of systemic sclerosis.

Elliot Rosenstein is the Director of the Institute for Rheumatic & Autoimmune Disease at Overlook Medical Center, Summit, NJ. Associate Clinical Professor Clinical Immunology Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Adjunct Associate Professor Rheumatology NYU School of Medicine, Adjunct Professor Periodontics New Jersey Dental School. He received his Medical Doctorate from Mount Sinai School of Medicine 1978 with postgraduate training in internal medicine and rheumatology at New York University 1978-1984. He is the former President of the New Jersey Rheumatology Association and is on the Board of Directors of the Arthritis FoundationNJ Chapter. He received the Catherine and Gilbert Miller Fellowship of the New York Arthritis Foundation and the Thomas P Infusino Lectureship of the Lautenberg Center for General Tumor Immunology. He is former contributing editor of postgraduate advances in Rheumatology and Year Book of Rheumatology. He has published over 65 articles reviews and chapters on a variety of rheumatologic and immunologic topics.

The role of periodontal pathogens in the etiopathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis
Immunotherapies for rheumatoid arthritis
Mechanisms of autoimmunity
Lymphoproliferative diseases complicating inflammatory disorders
Sjogrens syndrome

Dr. Haque is an Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and a full member of Hollings Cancer Center at MUSC. He is also a full member of American Association for Cancer Research and American Association of Immunologists. Research interests include autoimmunity, transplantation and tumor immunology. Dr. Haque’s expertise is tapped by National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Defense (DoD), Leukemia & lymphoma Society (LLS), Florida Department of Health, and MUSC for grant reviews. He serves as a reviewer for Journal of Immunology, Arthritis Research and Therapy, Circulation, Immunology, Cellular Immunology and Differentiation to name a few. He also serves as an Editorial Board Member for Journal of Clinical & Cellular Immunology, and Open Journal of Cell Biology. Dr. Haque’s work is supported by the NIH/NCI, DoD, LLS, ACS, and ALA, and has resulted in dozens of peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. Haque\'s  main areas of research  interest are tumor immunobiology, autoimmunity and transplantation.

Dr. de Vallejo is currently tenured Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He holds academic appointments at the UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. He obtained his graduate degree in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He completed postdoctoral training in Molecular Immunology, and in Rheumatology at the Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Medicine. Dr. de Vallejo is member of the American College of Rheumatology, the American Association of Immunologists, the Gerontological Society of America, and the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He is fellow of The Royal Society of Medicine.

Dr. de Vallejo’s research program is in the area of Immunobiology of Inflammatory Syndromes and Aging. Research activities are predominantly human-oriented, and highly collaborative. Disease-related projects focus on adult rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and juvenile dermatomyositis. Biogerontology-related projects focus on immune cell senescence, immune regulation of lifespan, and systems biology of exceptional longevity.

Xiaodong Zhou MD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, University of TexasMedical School at Houston. He also is a director of Research Laboratory in Rheumatology and Clinical Immunogenetics Division He has been studying rheumatic diseases over 12 years. His research activities have been supported by National Institutes of Health NIH Department of Defense, Scleroderma Foundation, University of Texas Houston and private donations.

His major research interests focus on chronic autoimmune diseases and autoinflammatory diseases such as systemic sclerosis, ankylosing spondylitis, myositis etc.

Dr. Singh is a rheumatologist-epidemiologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a staff physician at the Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center.He is associated with many rheumatology associations ans has served as a editor and reviewer in many reputed journals.

Dr. Singh research interests include systematic reviews and meta-analyses of treatments for arthritis, outcomes research in patients with osteoarthritis, gout and joint replacement focused on patient-reported outcomes, quality of care assessment and development of treatment recommendations and quality indicators.

Atsushi Tanaka is an Assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at Teikyo University School of Medicine. His main area of expertise is confined in primary billary cirrhosis and its related research.He is serving as editor for many journals.

Adult diseases
Primary biliary cirrhosis

Dr. Michael Keith graduated from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Keith served as the Chief of Medical Residents and then practiced general internal medicine for three years. He then completed his fellowship training in Rheumatology at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC. He was selected as one of 12 Distinguished Fellows by the American College of Rheumatology in 2006. Dr. Keith currently serves as the Chief of Rheumatology at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland and is a fellow in the American College of Rheumatology and the American College of Physicians. His clinical research interests include the role preclinical autoimmunity in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus and the possible link between anthrax vaccinations and the development of autoimmune disease. He is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University and is active in undergraduate and graduate medical education.

Auto immune Disease
Connective tissue disorders
Vaccination

Dr. Guangjie Chen had started her career in Shanghai JiaoTong University, School of Medicine,China as an assiatant professor in 1991 and served as lecturer from 1996 to 2004 and is working as an associate professor since 2004. She has already published over 16 publication and worked as reviewer for many reputed journals internationaly.

Immunological mechanisms of autoimmune disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and Crohn\'s disease Therapeutic strategies

 Dr. Inger Mechlenburg is the associate professor of Master of Health Science program, Aarhus University, Denmark. She has completed her Ph.D from Aarhus University, Denmark. She has already published over 20 papers in international journals and working as editorial board member and reviewer of many reputed journals. In her career, she has received national and international honorary awards.

Joint preserving surgery, shoulder artroplasty, rehabilitation, Imaging (MRI, CT, RSA, DXA, US, PET) and stereology

Petros Efthimiou, MD, is the Chief of Rheumatology at Lincoln Medical Mental Health Center and an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine and Rheumatology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Dr. Efthimiou graduated from the University of Ioannina Medical School summa cum laude and completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Brown University and a fellowship in Rheumatology at the Hospital for Special Surgery or Weill Cornell Medical Center. Prior to his current position he was an Assistant Professor of Medicine and the Director of the Rheumatology clinic at New Jersey Medical School UMDNJ.

His main research interests include the pathophysiology and management of autoinflammatory syndromes, especially adult-Onset Still’s Disease (AOSD), as well as the use of targeted treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and the inflammatory myopathies.

Dr. Xiaoli Li is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In 1992 he completed his Ph.D.in the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has co-authored many articles which are been published in various international journals.He also serves as an editor and reviewer in many reputed journals.

Dr. Li′s major research interest is investigation of biological effects of Fcγ Receptor polymorphisms. Elucidation of the biological functions mediated by Fcγ Receptors.

Dr. Andreea Bujor is a Research Assistant Professor in Boston University Medical Center at Boston. She is a member in the American College of Rheumatology. She is associated with many international Rheumatology association and acts as reviewer and editor for a number of international journals.

Collagen gene regulation in human dermal fibroblasts.

Rohit Aggarwal, MD, MSc is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, University of Pittsburgh. He is also the CoDirector of the Myositis Clinical which is a center of excellence for myositis clinical patient care and research at University of Pittsburgh. He did his training in Internal Medicine at University of Pittsburgh and completed Rheumatology fellowship from Rush University Medical College. His background includes a Masters of Science in Clinical Research.

Dr. Aggarwal’s research interests have focused on clinical, epidemiologic and serologic studies of the idiopathic inflammatory myopathies as well as associated interstitial lung diseases. He is also a co-investigator in NIH sponsored multi-center trial of rituximab treatment in myositis. He is currently actively involved in several clinical trial and collaborative studies on myositis including serological biomarkers in myositis, response and outcome studies on myositis, and mechanisms of response and relapse in rituximab-treated myositis patients.

Irene Blanco, M.D., M.S., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY. She completed her medical studies at Einstein; after which she went onto her internal medicine residency at New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Cornell Campus. She then returned to Einstein for her rheumatology fellowship, simultaneously completing a Master’s in Clinical Research and has since become part of the faculty. Her research seeks to improve the clinician’s ability to predict and ultimately improve the outcome of lupus nephritis (LN), A potentially devastating complication of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. The potential for screening and treatment to improve outcomes of LN is demonstrated by increased life expectancy. However, biomarkers currently used to follow disease activity do not always correlate with disease activity.

Dr. Blanco’s research seeks to find new biomarkers for Lupus Nephritis (LN) that better correlate with disease activity, leading to early diagnosis and treatment.

Dr.Anura Hewagama is the Professor of Division of Rheumatology,University of Michigan.He has completed his Doctor of Philosophy, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Wayne State University, Detroit during 1992-1999.He has completed his Master of Science degree in Chemistry from Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti during 1990-1992.He is an MHealthy Wellness Champion(2010-2012)- University of Michigan.He is associated with American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Biophysical Society.He has over 10 peer reviewed publication in different journals.

His current research project is in the Division of Rheumatology at University of Michigan is aimed at evaluating genetic and epigenetic mechanisms in autoimmune diseases (such as Lupus). The project integrates multidisciplinary efforts which involve basic science and clinical research investigators to elucidate pathogenic mechanisms using state-of-the-art technologies.His scopes of responsibilities as a specialist in bench sciences with expertise in bioinformatics include building a bridge between clinical scientist, bench scientist and bioinformatics specialist to help identify the key molecular targets in disease mechanisms. Hecollaborates closely with the DNA sequencing core, microarray core and the Bioinformatics groups of the University of Michigan. The ultimate goal of his project is to discover and validate molecular biomarkers for clinical diagnostics and to integrate the functions of these biomarkers in understanding molecular, cellular and pathophysiological mechanisms of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. As a Biochemist and molecular biologist, he designs and execute experiments to explore the associations of epigenetic changes such as DNA methylation on gene expression profiles.  As a Bioinformatics specialist, he uses these gene expression data to computationally predict affected cellular pathways contributing to disease mechanisms. Technologies involved in these research projects are: Real time quantitative PCR, microRNA expression profiling, Affymetrix microarray, Affinity enrichment of methyl DNA, DNA sequencing, and traditional protein assay methods such as ELISA, flow cytometry and western blotting. 

Dr. Vasileios C. Kyttaris worked as an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the University of the Health Sciences at Bethesda from 2004 to 2006. Later he was an instructor in Harvard Medical School at Boston upto 2008. Currently he is an Assistant Professor in Medicine Harvard Medical School, Boston.

My research interests are Rheumatic diseases and in particular SLE. I am also interested in basic immunology and in particular T cell signaling.

 

Dr. Theofilou Paraskevi completed her Ph.D. in Health Psychology from Panteion University. She is working as an Editorial Board Member for many Preer reviewed journals.

Psychosocial processes, outcomes and quality of life in chronic illness with particular emphasis on chronic kidney disease, dialysis and renal transplantation.
Self management interventions for patients with chronic illness.

Dr. Darko Bosnakovski received his PhD from Hokkaido University, Japan. He completed his Postdoctoral training at Southwestern Medical Centre in USA. From 2005 to 2008 he worked as a Research associate in Southwestern Medical Center & University of Minnesota, USA. Previously he worked as an Assistant professor of Veterinary medicine in St. Kliment Ohridski University. Presently he is an Assistant Professor of Medical Sciences at Goce Delcev University.

Adult and embryonic stem cells, chondrogenesis, myogenesis, muscular dystrophy, animal models, cell differentiation, osteoarthritis.

Dr. Andrew kinloch, Ph.D has started his career as B.Sc(Hons)Immunology from University of Glasgow, UK. In 2003 he joined MGH Cancer Center, Harvard University as research trainee. He has recieved his Ph.D  in 2007 for the research on "Discovery of citrullinated antigens targeted by antibodies produced by patients with RA, including citrullinated alpha-enolase. Epitope mapping of citrullinated alpha-enolase and co-inventor of CEP-1 peptide used for detection of RA specific antibodies. Demonstration of the synovial fluid as an extracellular niche in which citrullinated antigens are generated."Presently he is working as a Senoir Post Doctoral Scholar and faculty member in Knapp Center for Lupus & ImmunologyResearch, USA. he is the patent owner with registration no. EP2115134 A1 for the invention of "methods of diagnosing, prognosing, preventing or delaying onset of or treating rheumatoid arthritis, methods of distinguishing between different types or stages of rheumatoid arthritis, of identifying an individual at risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, and of monitoring efficacy of a treatment regime in an individual being treated for rheumatoid arthritis, using a citrullinated enolase peptide to detect or capture antibodies associated with rheumatoid arthritis."

Generation of monoclonal antibodies from kidney tissue of patients with lupus tubulointerstitial nephritis.
Antigen characterization.
Mouse model development and serological assay development.