Ron Messner

Research being conducted by Dr. Ronald Messner

Dr Ronald Messner is investigating the efficacy of stem cell transplantation to treat systemic autoimmunity.  He carries out experiments utilizing the mouse collagen-induced arthritis model for these studies.  His work will lead to a better understanding of the role of environmental and immune factors in the re-development of systemic autoimmunity after bone marrow ablation.  A second project examines those viral gene products that are important for the development of systemic autoimmunity and inflammatory mysitis following coxsackievirus infection.  He is currently attempting to determine exactly which genes in the virus are responsible for inducing inflammation.  Once the genes that cause the disease are identified, they can determine how these genes work and subsequently, the mechanism responsible for disease.  These studies may have broad implications for treatment and prevention of a variety of autoimmune disease such as RA, SLE, and PM/DM.