Professor

Dermatology

University of California, San Francisco (San Francisco, CA)

I am interested in autoimmune skin diseases and the mechanisms by which the skin is injured.

My research program focuses on autoimmune skin diseases and the molecular mediators that cause tissue injury. My primary research focus has been scleroderma (systemic sclerosis), a rare and potentially fatal autoimmune connective tissue disorder without good therapies. In the absence of convincing animal models, we have focused on human disease and tissue. I have developed an extensive scleroderma database and tissue bank at UCSF. We have over 500 clinical entries including all subsets of scleroderma. We have multiple cell lines and tissue samples frozen in the laboratory. These carefully collected reagents are intended to be used in collaborations between scientists and clinicians. Our approach has been to use DNA microarrays to analyze these tissue specimens.