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Final Program


Schedule at a Glance
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Program: Scientific Session
General Topic: Basic Science

Bypassing the 'Toll' Booth: NIAID-Supported Insights into Alternative Nucleic Acid Sensing in Autoimmunity

Tuesday, October 28, 2025
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM Central Time

    Moderator(s)

  • JR

    Jeffrey Rice, PhD

    National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID)
    Rockville, Maryland, United States

    Disclosure(s): No financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose

    • Session Coordinator(s)

  • Carla Cuda, PhD

    Northwestern University
    Chicago, Illinois, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

Investigators from NIAID’s autoimmune diseases research program will present their cutting-edge research on innate immune mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of autoimmune disease. The investigators will discuss recent evidence of the involvement of different innate immune cells and pathways and discuss new therapeutic targets directed against innate immune components as potential novel therapies. These advances may enable clinicians to better understand of the pathogenesis and molecular mechanisms underlying the clinical manifestations of autoimmune disease and more effectively manage the disease through more precise targeting of pathogenic cell subsets, minimizing off-target effects and reducing the use of systemic immunosuppression.

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe the role cellular innate immune receptors play in aberrant identification of "self" molecules as foreign, leading to inflammation and autoimmunity
  • Discuss how these novel molecules and immune mediators relate to autoimmunity
  • Identify potential targets for therapy

Presentations:

  • 10:00 AM – 10:30 AM Central Time
    RNA Editing and Sensing as a Common Mechanism Underlying Genetic Risk of Autoinflammatory Diseases

    Speaker: Jin Billy Li, PhD – Stanford University

  • 10:30 AM – 11:00 AM Central Time
    RNA Platforms Regulate MAVS-Dependent Interferon Activation

    Speaker: Ram Savan, PhD – University of Washington

  • 11:00 AM – 11:30 AM Central Time
    Intracellular Nucleic Acid Detection in Autoimmunity

    Speaker: Ann Marshak-Rothstein, PhD – UMass Chan Medical School