Paula Ramos
Emory University, GA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE, or lupus) is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the body's own tissues. How common and how severe it is vary greatly across demographic groups.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Genetics
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
systemic lupus erythematosus
autoimmune disease
epigenetics
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2027
What they work on
- Identify DNA methylation changes in people with lupus and matched controls that are linked to adverse and protective social support, measured with validated surveys.
- Determine whether social experiences are associated with epigenetic age acceleration, a DNA-methylation-based estimate of biological aging, among 300 SLE patients and 300 controls.
- Test whether methylation sites linked to social factors change the expression of nearby genes, focusing on immune, inflammatory and energy-metabolism pathways.
- Build a predictive model combining social factors and DNA methylation to forecast lupus outcomes, and test how these factors act together.
More about the research
Life experiences, both supportive and harmful, are known to affect lupus outcomes. Yet it is unclear how they could change gene activity and affect disease. One possible link is DNA methylation (DNAm), chemical tags on DNA that can switch genes on or off without changing the genetic code.
Why it matters
Lupus has no safe and fully effective treatments and its toll varies widely between groups. Showing how social experiences shape gene regulation could explain those differences, help predict disease outcomes, and support targeted precision medicine and interventions for people with SLE. It may also inform work on other autoimmune diseases.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Sung Lim
Emory University, GA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Test whether social determinants of health, such as economic and neighborhood conditions, predict work loss, end-stage kidney disease and mortality among people with systemic lupus erythematosus in the Atlanta-area GOAL cohort.
Jill Norris
University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus, CO·Public Health & Epidemiology
Survey existing cohorts, registries, exposure data, exposome laboratories and analytic methods to assess what is needed to measure environmental exposures before rheumatoid arthritis and lupus begin.
Erin Taylor
Augusta University, GA·Physiology
Test whether extra visceral fat worsens lupus and hypertension through harmful immune cells in fat, by surgically or pharmacologically depleting fat or its immune cells in female NZBWF1 mice.
The school
Emory University: 70 labs on PI Pages, $1.2B a year on research, 286 research doctorates a year.
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