Oct 1, 2003 -- The Albert Einstein College of Medicine has been awarded a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health, totaling more than $22 million, to establish an Autoimmunity Center of Excellence (ACE) program. The Einstein Center is one of just nine nationally that will conduct clinical trials and basic research on new immune-based therapies for autoimmune diseases. In these endeavors, the Center’s investigators will aim to enhance interactions between scientists and clinicians in order to accelerate the translation of research into medical applications. Principal investigator for the Autoimmunity Center of Excellence at Einstein will be Dr. Betty Diamond, who is the Weinstock Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, professor of medicine, and chief of the division of rheumatology at the medical school. Dr. Diamond also has been named chair of the consortium, made up of the nine centers receiving NIH funding for an Autoimmunity Center of Excellence. “The principal role of the immune system is to defend against infection, and the body has safeguards to prevent the immune system from attacking its own tissues,” said Dr. Diamond. “Autoimmune diseases are caused by the misdirection of an immune response toward the body’s own tissue. Our work focuses on understanding how these safeguards are being breached, as well as exploring effective therapies for countering the diseases.” Collectively, autoimmune diseases afflict between 14 million and 22 million Americans. At the Einstein Center, researchers will investigate a number of autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, diabetes, and immune thrombocytopenia purpura (ITP). Other institutions in the nine-center consortium include Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Columbia University, Duke University, University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of California at San Francisco, University of Colorado, and University of Rochester. The NIH awarded a total of $51 million among the nine centers, adding five new centers, including Einstein, to expand the program and its ability to address this important health concern.