News

Jennifer Anolik, MD, PhD and colleagues Nida Meednu, PhD and Javier Rangel-Moreno, PhD recently published the article "B cells inhibit bone formation in rheumatoid arthritis by suppressing osteoblast differentiation" in Nature Communications. Drs. Anolik, Meednu and Rangel-Moreno in collaboration with Lianping Xing, BMed, PhD and other colleagues from the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, demonstrated that B cells in rheumatoid arthritis directly inhibit the differentiation of precursor cells into osteoblasts. By identifying B cells as a pivotal player in immune-mediated bone damage in RA, they have opened the door for further investigation into potential targeted therapy to prevent bone loss.

At the 2018 National Meeting of the American College of Rheumatology, Christopher Ritchlin, MD, MPH was honored with one of the College's highest honors. He was the recipient of its Master of the ACR designation. Recipients must "have made outstanding contributions to the field of rheumatology through scholarly achievement and/or service to their patients, students, and the rheumatology profession (and) devoted their long careers to furthering rheumatology research and improving clinical standards in the treatment of rheumatic diseases."

The AIR Division was well represented at the American College of Rheumatology's National Meeting in Chicago, IL October 19-24, 2018. This meeting highlights the most current research findings as they relate to Rheumatology. Ten faculty members and one fellow had a total of 16 presentations which included poster and oral abstract presentations as well as lectures. Two presenters, R. John Looney, MD and Hung Trinh, MD were selected as having the best abstract or session.

Several of our multi-talented staff competed in the University of Rochester Kickball league under the team name, Aller'Gs. While being stars in the office by day, the Aller'Gs took first place for the season in their division on the field endeavor. Congratulations, Team!

The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) was awarded two grants from the Office of Minority Health. Dr. Anandarajah is the recipient of one of these two-year grants to further support the IQ-LUPUS project

Jennifer Barnas, MD, PhD was recently awarded an ACR Research Foundation award to support her investigation into "The Contribution of Renal Epithelial Cells to Innate Interferon Pathways in Lupus Nephritis." She was also chosen as one of sixteen researchers to attend the Master Class in the SLE Basic and Clinical Sciences next month.

The IQ-LUPUS (Improve Quality in Low-income, Underserved, Poor, Underprivileged, SLE patients) Project, funded by the Greater Rochester Health Foundation, aims to overcome some of the common problems faced by SLE patients from the minority communities. As part of this initiative we aim to educate the healthcare providers caring for patients with SLE. This CME conference is the first of such meetings and will discuss healthcare disparities and how they impact the care of lupus patients. The conference will be held Saturday, June 9^th from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm. For more information and to register visit www.cvent.com/d/2gq9tn.

Dr. Ananta Paine and colleagues Maria de la Luz Garcia-Hernandez, PhD and Christopher Ritchlin, MD, MPH recently published their findings in The FASEB Journal. Their research demonstrated that Thy 1 is a positive regulator of osteoblast differentiation and modulated bone homeostasis.