Genetics, Exposures, and RA-Related Autoimmunity

描述(由申请者提供)：候选人的职业目标：在此奖项结束时，候选人计划发展成为免疫发病和自身免疫领域的独立临床研究员所需的技能。他的长期职业目标是利用在此获奖期间获得的培训留在学术环境中，作为独立研究人员参与创建自身免疫性疾病的新范式，其中疾病的易感性在临床前状态下确定，早期措施可以阻止疾病的发生或早期进展。 研究生涯发展计划：在此奖项期间，候选人的研究培训将包括两个主要部分。首先，候选人将通过科罗拉多大学健康科学中心提供的临床科学博士项目，参加临床研究的正规教育。第二个将是候选人在导师V.Michael Holers和Jill Norris的指导下，参与由NIH资助的类风湿性关节炎(SERA)病因研究项目。 研究项目简介：在此次获奖期间，候选人将集中于血清项目的一个分支，评估在大约2700名RA患者的健康一级亲属队列中，人类白细胞抗原等位基因、环境暴露和与RA相关的自身免疫发展之间的关系。候选和更大的血清项目的长期目标都是确定RA的潜在病因机制，以及开发一个预测健康受试者疾病发展的模型，最终选择适合进行预防性或非常早期治疗干预的受试者。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Candidate's Career Goals: At the end of this award, the candidate plans to have developed the skills necessary to be an independent clinical investigator in the field of immunopathogenesis and autoimmunity. His long-term career goal is use the training acquired during this award period to remain in an academic setting, participating as an independent researcher in the creation of a new paradigm in autoimmune disease where susceptibility to disease is determined in the pre-clinical state, and early measures can be halt the onset or early progression of disease. Research Career Development Plan: During the period of this award, there will be two major components to the candidate's research training. The first will be the candidate's participation in formal education in clinical research through the Ph.D. Program in Clinical Science offered at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. The second will be the candidate's involvement in the NIH-funded project Studies of the Etiologies of Rheumatoid Arthritis (SERA), under the guidance of mentors V. Michael Holers and Jill Norris. Description of Research Project: During the period of this award, the candidate's involvement in research will focus on an arm of the SERA project evaluating the relationship between HLA alleles, environmental exposures, and the development of RA- related autoimmunity in a cohort of approximately 2700 healthy first-degree relatives of patients with RA. The long-term goals of both the candidate and the larger SERA project are to identify potential etiologic mechanisms for RA, as well as to develop a model for predicting the development of disease in healthy subjects, ultimately selecting subjects who would be candidates for preventive or very early therapeutic interventions.