{"id":24,"date":"2008-01-24T13:59:49","date_gmt":"2008-01-24T17:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/virol-immunol-microbio\/research\/ian-r-rifkin-md-phd\/"},"modified":"2023-06-14T15:44:33","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T19:44:33","slug":"ian-r-rifkin-md-phd","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/virol-immunol-microbio\/people\/faculty\/ian-r-rifkin-md-phd\/","title":{"rendered":"Ian R. Rifkin, M.D., Ph.D."},"content":{"rendered":"

Associate Professor of Medicine and Virology, Immunology & Microbiology
\n\"Rifkin\"<\/a>
\n650 Albany Street
\nOffice: X514; 617-638-7325
\nLab: E-5; 617-414-3338
\nirifkin@bu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

M.D.\u00a0 University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
\nPh.D. University of Cambridge, England<\/p>\n

See BU Profile<\/a> for additional information and publications.<\/p>\n

There are two main research aims in my laboratory.\u00a0 The first aim is to understand the pathogenesis of the systemic autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), with the ultimate goal of identifying new therapeutic targets.\u00a0 We mainly use mouse models and in-vitro systems for these studies, although we also work with human cells and patient material.\u00a0 Specific projects include: 1) Studying mechanisms and signaling pathways responsible for the activation of dendritic cells in SLE.\u00a0 This project is based on our original observation that dendritic cell activation by nucleic acid autoantigen-containing immune complexes occurs through the dual engagement of an Fc receptor and a Toll-like receptor (TLR9 for DNA autoantigens and TLR7 for RNA autoantigens).\u00a0 Ongoing studies aim to characterize the precise nature of the stimulatory autoantigens in more detail, and to determine the overall contribution of TLR-mediated dendritic cell activation to SLE pathogenesis. 2) Determining the role of interferon regulatory factor 5 (IRF5) in lupus pathogenesis.\u00a0 IRF5 has recently been identified as a major susceptibility gene for SLE in humans and plays an important role in TLR signaling.\u00a0 We are using a combination of in vivo and in vitro approaches to evaluate the biological role of IRF5 in SLE.<\/p>\n

The second main aim of our research is to determine the mechanisms responsible for the premature atherosclerosis seen in SLE.\u00a0 Premature atherosclerosis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with SLE, although the lupus-specific risk factors responsible for this are poorly understood.\u00a0 In collaboration with Dr. Walsh in Molecular Cardiology, we have developed a novel mouse model of premature atherosclerosis and SLE, and are using this model to explore underlying pathogenic mechanisms and test new therapeutic approaches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Associate Professor of Medicine and Virology, Immunology & Microbiology 650 Albany Street Office: X514; 617-638-7325 Lab: E-5; 617-414-3338 irifkin@bu.edu M.D.\u00a0 University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa Ph.D. University of Cambridge, England See BU Profile for additional information and publications. There are two main research aims in my laboratory.\u00a0 The first aim is to understand the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":929,"featured_media":0,"parent":3313,"menu_order":28,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/virol-immunol-microbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/virol-immunol-microbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/virol-immunol-microbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/virol-immunol-microbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/929"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/virol-immunol-microbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/virol-immunol-microbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5611,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/virol-immunol-microbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24\/revisions\/5611"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/virol-immunol-microbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/virol-immunol-microbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}