Using grants from both the NIH and National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Dr. Bettelli is exploring TRMs’ role in MS and whether targeting them could lead to new treatments.

At BRI, Estelle Bettelli, PhD, is studying a type of T cell called tissue resident memory T cells (TRM) to determine their role in chronic tissue damage.

Current therapies that block cells from entering the central nervous system, but they may not be sufficient to limit damage in the brain and spinal cord over time.

Our immune systems have a team of T cells that patrol the body, looking for signs of germs or infection. But in multiple sclerosis (MS), some of those T cells mistakenly start attacking the central nervous system, causing inflammation and tissue damage. 🧵

Her project will focus on characterizing effects of genetic variants that are linked to autoimmune diseases to develop more effective therapeutics.

Dr. Nguyen was selected for her outstanding work addressing the genetic causes of autoimmune disease with direct implications for improving treatment efforts in the Ray Lab at BRI.

BRI postdoctoral researcher, LeAnn Nguyen, PhD, recently received the Institute for Translational Immunology fellowship through the University of Washington, which aims to prepare postdoc candidates for a variety of careers and accelerate basic immunology research to clinic-ready therapies. 🧵

In 2025, Drs. Kwok and James received a grant from BRI’s Innovation Fund to help continue this work. The Innovation Fund supports the development of cutting-edge tools and technologies at BRI that help our researchers apply for larger grants from sources like the NIH.

These second-generation tetramers will help advance research into low-affinity T cells and their role in autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis.

More than 20 years later, Dr. Kwok and Eddie James, PhD, director of BRI’s Protein and Tetramer Core, have been developing a new, stronger version of tetramer that can detect low-affinity cells, which are typically much harder to find and study than high-affinity cells.

In the late 1990s, Bill Kwok, PhD, pioneered MHC class II tetramers, a game-changing tool in immunology research that enable scientists to find and extract rare cells. 🧵