Gerald T. Nepom, M.D., Ph.D.
Affiliate Professor, Immunology

Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason
1201 Ninth Av Seattle, WA 98101
Tel: 206.223-8812
Fax: 206.223-7638
Email: nepom@benaroyaresearch.org

Gerald Nepom's Web Page at BRI

Dr. Nepom received his bachelors degree in Biochemistry from Harvard. He attended the University of Washington, receiving his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1977 and his M.D. in 1978. After post-doctoral work in immunogenetics in the Department of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, he returned to Seattle, joining the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington Medical School Faculty in 1982. Since 1985 he has been Member and Director of the Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason.

Projects in Dr. Nepom's laboratory are focused on identifying and understanding molecular and genetic mechanisms contributing to triggering of autoimmune disorders. A combination of in vitro studies, preclinical models, and human T cell profiling is used to evaluate autoreactive T cell lineage and fate determination. Translational and clinical applications include evaluation of the role of HLA class II genes in the etiology of type I diabetes and adult and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, and use of immunological monitoring tools for predicting disease susceptibility and response to therapy in clinical trials.

Recent publications:

Ettinger R, Papadopoulos G, Moustakas A, Nepom GT, Kwok WW. Allelic variation in key peptide-binding pockets discriminates between closely related diabetes-protective and diabetes-susceptible HLA-DQB106 alleles. J Immunol 176:1988-1998, 2006.

Steere A, Klitz W, Drouin E, Falk B, Kwok W, Nepom GT, Baxter-Lowe LA. Correlation of antibiotic-refractory lyme arthritis with HLA-DR molecules that bind the outer surface protein-A T cell epitope of Borrelia burgdorferi. J. Exp. Medicine 203:961-971, 2006.

Beeton C, Wulff H, Standifer N, Azam P, Mullen K, Pennington M, Kolski-Andreaco A, Wei E, Grino A, Counts D, Wang P, LeeHealey C, Andrews B, Sankaranarayanan A, Roeck W, Tehranzadeh J, Knaus H-G, Nepom GT, Gutman G, Calabresi P, and Chandy KG. Kv1.3 channels are a therapeutic target for T cell-mediated autoimmune diseases. Proc Natl Acad Sci, 103:17414-17419, 2006.

Standifer N, Ouyang Q, Panagiotopoulos C, Verchere CB, Tan R, Greenbaum CJ, Pihoker C, and Nepom GT. Identification of novel HLA-A*0201 restricted epitopes in recent-onset type 1 diabetic subjects and antibody-positive relatives. Diabetes 55:3061-3067, 2006.

Bollyky PL, Lord JD, Masewicz SA, Evanko SP, Buckner JH,Wight T, and Gerald T. Nepom. Cutting Edge: High Molecular Weight Hyaluronan Promotes the Suppressive Effects of CD4+CD25+ Regulatory T Cells. The Journal of Immunology, 179: 744–747, 2007.

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Updated 7/11/07