Rheumatology Research Group
Our research has a major focus on inflammatory rheumatic diseases; in particular the pathobiology, comorbidity and patient reported outcomes associated with rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren’s syndrome and systemic lupus erythematosus, as well as their epidemiology and clinical management. We are a substantial multidisciplinary team including academic/clinical rheumatologists, general practitioners, biological/behavioural scientists, allied health professionals and patient research partners.
Theme Lead
Professor Karim Raza
Professor of Rheumatology supported by Versus Arthritis
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The Rheumatology Research Group (RRG) is based in the Institute of Inflammation and Ageing (IIA) in the College of Medical and Dental Sciences. The Institute has major research themes in Inflammation, Ageing, Trauma, Regeneration and Repair. These research themes are linked to the clinical disciplines of Clinical Immunology, Neurology, Nephrology, Rheumatology, Ophthalmology, Gastroenterology and Respiratory Medicine. Academic Rheumatology in Birmingham is therefore ideally placed to act as a focus for translational clinical research in inflammation, where a clear understanding of how immune cells behave in inflamed microenvironments is likely to be of critical importance for future experimental medicine studies.
The overarching objective of our Group is to improve clinical outcomes for those with, and at risk of developing, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) and systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE) by developing diagnostic tests, drugs, cell based therapies and lifestyle assessments to predict, prevent and reverse disease pathology. A unique feature of our translational research is that we have pioneered a first in class,“process-driven pathway-focused” approach to the biology of inflammatory arthritis.
- To improve clinical outcomes for those with, and at risk of developing, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Sjogren’s syndrome (SS) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)
- To discover and improve tests used to make diagnoses and to predict disease course from the earliest stages of symptoms
- To explore therapeutic targeting of the tissue microenvironment and compare and contrast the biological processes underpinning the development, maintenance and resolution of inflammation
- To compare shared biological mechanisms across a number of traditionally independent organ based medical disciplines in order to develop biologically meaningful and therapeutically tractable process-driven links to other disease areas in inflammation biology