The Autoimmunity & Amyloidosis laboratory is focused on improving monitoring, prognosis and treatment of amyloid and autoimmune diseases. Our translational research program explores clinical samples with novel genomic and proteomic technology to understand disease mechanism and inform precision medicine.
Autoimmune disease occurs when abnormal immune cells attack healthy parts of the body, instead of infectious microbes. Amyloid disease occurs when abnormal proteins precipitate and accumulate in organs, interfering with their normal function. What causes proteins and immune cells to become abnormal in amyloidosis and autoimmunity, and how this can be prevented, are major research directions in our lab.
Recent Achievements
- Defined the molecular characteristics of pathogenic autoantibodies in Sjogren’s syndrome
- Establishment of the Amyloidosis Biobank
- Developed a flow cytometry test to measure minimal residual disease in patients with cryovasculitis to personalize disease monitoring and treatment
Recent publications

Isolated anti-Ro52 identifies a severe subset of Sjögren’s syndrome patients. Frontiers Immunology 14:1115548. 2023. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1115548
March 2023

Phases and Natural History of Sjögren's Disease: A New Model for an Old Disease? Arthritis Care Research 75(7):1580-1587. doi: 10.1002/acr.25011.
September 2022

Anti-Ro52/TRIM21 serological subsets identify differential clinical and laboratory parameters. Clinical Rheumatology 41(11):3495-3501. doi: 10.1007/s10067-022-06299-5.
July 2022

Transforming mutations in the development of pathogenic B cell clones and autoantibodies. Immunological Reviews 307(1):101-115. doi: 10.1111/imr.13064.
January 2022

Structural and functional characterization of capsid binding by anti-AAV9 monoclonal antibodies from infants after SMA gene therapy. Molecular Therapy. 31(7):1979-1993. doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2023.03.032
July 2023
Group Members
Additional members
Dr. Thanh Huyen Phan, Postdoctoral Scientist
Dr. Adrian Lee, PhD Student
Ms. Lara Glass, PhD Student
Ms. Sarah Volk, Research Assistant
Mr. John (Zhankun) Qi, Honours Student
A Prof Ming Wei Lin, Clinical Immunologist
Dr. Fiona Kwok, Haematologist
Other links
https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/medicine/autoimmune-disease-on-the-rise/