In the few years since the SRF began its Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, it has become a central element to the overall research effort. The program is an unqualified success in focusing talented young investigators on specific research questions in the nation’s top laboratories, leveraging the momentum of SRF core research projects and bringing bright young scientists to scleroderma research. The SRF has this year funded Postdoctoral Fellows in the labs of nationally respected senior scientists Dr. Laurie Glimcher, Harvard School of Public Health,  and Dr. Stephen Schwartz, University of Washington. Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Ashley Chi continues his work in the Stanford laboratory of microarray pioneer Dr. Patrick O. Brown. Dr. Chi moves to Duke University in the fall.

Genomic Approach to Characterize the Circulating Soluble Factors in Scleroderma Pathogenesis
Sponsoring Investigator: Patrick O. Brown, M.D., Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow: Ashley Chi, M.D., Ph.D.
Stanford University School of Medicine

Dr. Chi suspects that abnormalities in the blood of scleroderma patients may account for systemic involvement of the disease, beyond the skin. He has proposed a novel method to test his hypothesis, by exposing normal cells to scleroderma blood samples and observing the changes using state-of-the-art DNA microarray technology. In his pilot study, Dr. Chi found that blood from scleroderma patients can convert healthy cells to "scleroderma-like" cells. Dr. Chi is extending this method to test other cell types and initiating studies to characterize and identify the factors that change the normal cells. Dr. Chi’s method is expected to provide a powerful way to understand scleroderma and lead to better diagnosis and treatment.

Analysis of Expression in Scleroderma Monocytes
Sponsoring Investigator: Stephen Schwartz, M.D., Ph.D.
Postdoctoral (Senior) Fellow: Azin Agah, Ph.D.
University of Washington

Dr. Agah’s goal is to use microarray analysis to evaluate unique gene expression patterns of monocytes isolated from scleroderma patients. Monocytes are white blood cells that are important to the body’s defense system. Further, she hopes to identify differences in scleroderma monocyte gene expression patterns that correlate with patterns seen in diabetes, atherosclerosis, and others. Here, the sets of genes uniting different disease states could be valuable for exploring possible shared disease mechanism(s).

The Function of the Transcription Factor T-Bet in Scleroderma
Sponsoring Investigator:  Laurie Glimcher, M.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow:  Jingsong Wang, M.D.
Harvard School of Public Health

Dr. Wang is studying the role of a protein—the transcription factor T-bet—as a master regulator of factors that contribute to fibrosis in scleroderma. Early experiments have shown that T-bet represses production of TGF-beta, a protein involved in collagen production. Dr. Wang is now studying, in more molecular detail, the relationship between T-bet and TGF-beta and will look at the effects of increasing T-bet activity in the setting of scleroderma for possible therapeutic value. In addition, he will further explore the finding of a strong genetic association among groups of scleroderma patients related to T-bet.