Advancing Translational Immunology: The Impact of Research Consortia-Advancing Translational Immunology: The Impact of Research Consortia

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The AAI webinar highlighted the value of research consortia in advancing translational immunology through large-scale collaboration, shared resources, and open-access data. Erica Stone and Laura Donlan introduced how science has shifted from isolated “one-lab, one-grant” models toward team science. Two consortia were featured: IGVF (Impact of Genomic Variations on Function) and AMP-RA (Accelerating Medicines Partnership in Rheumatoid Arthritis).<br /><br />Harinder Singh described IGVF as a continuation of Human Genome Project efforts aimed at linking vast human genetic variation to function. IGVF combines genome mapping, high-throughput functional assays, and predictive modeling to determine how variants affect cellular and organismal phenotypes, with emphasis on non-coding and rare variants. His lab used IGVF tools to map human B-cell regulatory networks and model how variants may alter transcription factor binding and disease risk.<br /><br />Shomu Roschari discussed AMP-RA work on deconstructing rheumatoid arthritis synovium using single-cell technologies. His group identified tissue “cell type abundance phenotypes” that correlate with specific inflammatory cell states and treatment response. He also showed how multimodal data can build enhancer-gene maps to connect non-coding GWAS variants to causal genes and cell states.<br /><br />The webinar closed with a Q&A on consortium collaboration, causal variants, personalized RA therapy, and data access.

Keywords

translational immunology

research consortia

team science

IGVF

AMP-RA

genomic variation

single-cell technologies

rheumatoid arthritis

open-access data