Every Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) clinical trial integrates a set of genetic, cellular, and immunological studies that are designed to explore the underlying mechanisms of tolerance and disease. They help to identify new clinical phenotypes by stratifying individuals in the clinical trials, and discover new biomarkers that may illuminate drug targets or be useful for personalizing therapy. To accomplish this, the ITN has partnered with the following core laboratories and facilities that utilize state-of-the-art and custom-made assays.
Core Facilities
Principal Investigator:
Eoin McKinney, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Peter Linsley, Benaroya Research Institute, Seattle, WA
The ITN engages two labs for RNAseq analysis of ITN clinical trial samples.
Principal Investigator:
Ben Youngblood, St Jude Childrens Research Hospital, Memphis, TN
ITN's Epigenetics Core conducts whole genome methylation studies on immune cell subsets involved in disease progression or modulated in treatment approaches.
Principal Investigator:
Rasika Matthias, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
The ITN Genomics Core utilizes a comprehensive SNP-chip and whole genome sequencing to identify genomic variants implicated in immune tolerance.
Principal Investigator:
Alan Kirk, Duke University, Durham, NC
Alice Long, Benaroya Research Institute, Seattle, WA
The ITN utilizes two core laboratories for Flow Cytometry, both of which have excellent performance on ITN standardization and QC testing, and follow best practices for data handling and transfer to ITN data managers.
Principal Investigator:
Harlan Robins, Adaptive Biotechnologies, Seattle, WA
Adaptive Biotechnologies performs immune profiling of T cell and B cell receptors using ImmunoSEQ technology.
Principal Investigator:
Steven Kleiboeker, ViracorIBT, Lees Summit, MO
ViracorIBT is a CLIA-certified, molecular and immunological diagnostics laboratory with approximately 16,000 sq. ft. of laboratory space located in Lee’s Summit, MO (within the Kansas City metropolitan area).
Principal Investigator:
William Kwok, Benaroya Research Institute, Seattle, WA
MHC Class II tetramer reagents and staining procedures allow for the direct detection of antigen specific T cells by flow cytometry.
Principal Investigator:
Anthony Demetris, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
The Division of Transplantation Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center offers a comprehensive consultation service in solid organ transplantation pathology to community and university based physicians.
Principal Investigator:
Liping Yu, University of Colorado, Aurora, CO
The Immune Tolerance Network Autoantibody Core analyzes patient serum for the presence of autoantibodies using semi-automated, high-throughput radioassays.
Principal Investigator:
Maura Rosetti, Donald Carter, Xinmin Li, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
The primary goal of the HLA Typing Core is to provide sequence level typing using DNA collected from participants in ITN trials. UCLA also serves as the ITN Nucleic Acid Isolation Core, isolating and aliquoting DNA and/or RNA from ITN specimens across many ITN studies.