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Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI), a world renowned nonprofit medical institute in autoimmune and immune system diseases, has appointed Jane Buckner, MD, as president, effective Jan. 1. Dr. Buckner, an internationally known researcher in autoimmune diseases, who brings an interdisciplinary approach – genetics, immunology and clinical medicine – to understanding the causes and potential cures of autoimmune diseases.

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“The breadth of research from the laboratory, translated into clinical treatment and back to the laboratory is really all under ‘one roof’ here,” says Jerry Nepom, MD, PhD, “forming a dynamic collaboration to find the best treatments for people with allergic disease.”

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Carla J. Greenbaum, MD, has been named chair of Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded clinical trial network for type 1 diabetes prevention and early treatment.

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Gerald Nepom, MD, PhD, who has served as director of Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) for 30 years, will retire from this position at the end of 2015. He will be succeeded by Jane Buckner, MD, currently associate director of BRI who will become president of BRI on Jan. 1, 2016.

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Erik Wambre, PhD, an immunology and allergy researcher at Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI), has received a Mid-Career Investigators Award from Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) that provides $750,000 over five years to support research in food allergy, specifically peanut allergy.

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Scientists at Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) have made an unexpected discovery that overturns a longstanding belief in the biological sciences. The research demonstrates that chitin, a molecule that was previously thought to be absent in vertebrates and that has been shown to trigger an allergy/immune reaction in mammals, is endogenously produced in fishes and amphibians.

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About one-third of people with type 1 diabetes (T1D) produce insulin, as measured by C-peptide, a byproduct of insulin production, even upward of forty years from initial diagnosis, according to a first-of-its-kind, large-scale study conducted by researchers from T1D Exchange. This sheds new light on the long-accepted belief that these patients lose all ability to produce any insulin; this could have significant policy implications, said researchers from T1D Exchange, whose Clinic Network involves a national consortium of diabetes centers. The findings were published online this week in Diabetes Care.

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Benaroya Research Institute has received a $1.4 million grant from JDRF to understand why some people with type 1 diabetes maintain the ability to produce insulin. Researchers have found at the time of diagnosis with type 1 diabetes that many people continue to produce small amounts of insulin. Since even small amounts of natural insulin production can decrease the long-term effects of diabetes and improve short-term clinical management, scientists search for ways to keep these remaining cells producing insulin.

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Scientists at Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) recently received a $2.2 million grant from the NIH to find a unique biomarker that initiates and drives allergies. This grant expands on previous discoveries that led to the isolation of a type of white blood cells that show up only in people with allergic disease.

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Researchers at Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) used cutting-edge tetramer technology developed at BRI to find the T cells that drive rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

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Benaroya Research Institute (BRI) received a grant to research how blocking a particular molecule in metastatic breast cancer reduces both the growth of primary tumors and the number of lung metastases. BRI scientists have found in disease models that blocking this protein can shrink tumors by 60 - 80 percent and can keep the tumor from metastasizing or spreading.

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) a $1.9 million grant to find marks in the human genome which can explain why some white blood cells cause damage to the spinal cord and brain in multiple sclerosis (MS).

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Research utilizing a systems approach demonstrates that different vaccines lead to immunity via distinct immune response pathways. Published findings include interactive figures linked to the underlying data allowing readers seamless access to investigate new hypotheses.

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International researchers led by Chris Amemiya, PhD, Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason, has published “The African coelacanth genome provides insights into tetrapod evolution” as the cover article in the April 18 issue of Nature.

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Benaroya Research Institute establishes the T1D Exchange Biobank Operations Center to advance discoveries in type 1 diabetes research with biosamples from thousands of participants.

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Findings offer a better understanding of the development and progression of multiple sclerosis and potential future therapeutic target.

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On Nov. 14th, World Diabetes Day, 12 Puget Sound area diabetes organizations and landmarks will identify Seattle as a global leader in diabetes research and clinical care by joining the “Blue Monument Challenge.”

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BRI announced today that it is a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Brad Stone, PhD, Principal Investigator for the grant, will pursue a research project entitled "Rapid Vaccine Development Using Synthetic Minigene Libraries."

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In a new $4.3 million grant from the NIH, scientists from Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason, Seattle Children’s Research Institute and University of Virginia combine their expertise in three different areas of research in order to determine how genes contribute to the development of T1D.

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Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) recently received two major grant awards to explore how to regulate the immune system, as part of a nationwide collaborative program to prevent autoimmune diseases, including Type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis and Crohn’s disease.

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Results from a novel experimental therapy for type 1 diabetes that boosts parts of the healthy immune system were reported today. The trial was led by Carla Greenbaum, MD, Diabetes Research Program at Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason and sponsored by the Immune Tolerance Network.

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Research on a unique vertebrate called the sea lamprey shows that more than a thousand genes are shed during its early development and “sealed’ into a compartment so they cannot be misexpressed and create untoward problems. The study was done at Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason.

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Benaroya Research Institute and Novo Nordisk collaborate on autoimmune disease research. Groundbreaking agreement aims to achieve better, faster diagnosis and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and lupus.