Marko Radic, PhD, University of Tennessee

Work in the Radic laboratory centers on the mechanisms leading to autoimmune disease, with an emphasis on disorders that are diagnosed and mediated by autoantibodies. The lab has made contributions toward understanding molecular mechanisms of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Anti-Phospholipid Syndrome (APS), Felty's Syndrome (FS), and Sjogren's Syndrome (SS). The lab studies autoantibodies from patients as well as mouse strains that develop autoimmunity resembling the human disorders. In the lab, molecular details of antibody binding to antigens are explored to test hypotheses that account for mechanisms of antigen selection. For this purpose, autoantibodies are expressed from hybridoma cell lines, or as recombinant antibody fragments in heterologous systems. Researchers in the Radic lab examine the binding specificities of autoantibodies, in order to determine likely stimuli for the induction of autoimmune responses.