Autoimmune Research

I'll bet that anyone who has seen a doctor for any kind of autoimmune disease has heard the comment, "there's so much about autoimmunity that we just don't understand yet." What a frustrating thing to hear, yet bit by bit, researchers are chipping away at this enormously difficult and intricate puzzle. 

Here's another study recently completed by the Scripps Research Institute and supported by the National Institutes of Health that scrutinized those troublesome T cells responsible for much of autoimmune disease damage. 

"Our technique simultaneously uncovers and isolates autoreactive T cells as well as inhibitors to them," Kodadek said. "It's a double whammy. At the heart of this is a comparative screening process of normal T cells versus disease-causing T cells. While the process is technically complicated and difficult, the thinking behind it is not. We wanted to simplify the process of identifying compounds that could inhibit autoreactive T cells with exceptional specificity, and we succeeded." 

Go get 'em guys. 

I really wish that there was more that someone like me could do to aid in this really important research process, but I know my limits. I can only imagine what havoc would ensue after turning Julia loose in a laboratory.....

I suppose all that any of us can do is to continue to be advocates for public awareness and support of this very important ongoing research.