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Your immune system protects you from potential danger and infections every single day. Unfortunately, the immune system’s cells sometimes mistakenly target the body itself, and this can result in autoimmune diseases. But do these cells have common denominators? And can we use these to treat or diagnose autoimmune diseases?

During her stay in the US, Camilla Wibrand will focus her research on juvenile dermatomyositis, a rare but serious autoimmune disease.

‘In the case of juvenile dermatomyositis, the immune system targets skin and muscles. Those affected suffer from profound muscle weakness and pain, particularly in the thighs and shoulders, and a rash, most often on the face, upper body and hands. They’ll typically not be able to walk up stairs or lift their arms above their head,’ Wibrand explains.

The hypothesis of her project is that the disease is largely caused by selection and propagation of populations of specific immune system cells, T cells, which share cellular qualities such as receptors and other cellular markers.

‘Previous studies have shown that a certain population of T cells with uniform receptors increases when the disease is active. My project will focus on characterising the uniformity of the receptors in several different populations of T cells, and on comparing their expression of, for instance, proteins to search for potential targets for specific treatment and diagnostic markers,’ Wibrand explains.

She will use blood samples and clinical data from a cohort of patients with juvenile dermatomyositis collected by one of her American supervisors, Dr Jessica Neely, a paediatric rheumatologist at UCSF. One of the cohort’s unique qualities is that it contains samples from patients both when they are in remission and when their disease is in an active phase. This provides an ideal basis for comparison.

‘Previous studies have found that T cell populations change during latent and active phases of the disease. The fact that we have several samples from the same patient gives us a unique opportunity to track the development of receptor status in these populations over time and to use the patients for self-monitoring.’

The project produces huge amounts of data since receptor and protein status are characterised for every single T cell in every single patient. Analyses can therefore only be conducted using computational immunology methods, a field in which Camilla Wibrand’s other mentor, Dr Marina Sirota, associate professor at UCSF, is a specialist.

‘The immune system is extremely complex, with an infinite number of factors to take into account. And that’s exactly why I find it so fascinating! But examining them and analysing the kind of data my project will produce requires highly specialised computational immunology methods that I have not worked with in Denmark. I am, however, very much looking forward to learning them,’ Wibrand says.

Camilla Wibrand will also receive support for her project from her Danish supervisor Troels Herlin DMSc, professor of paediatric rheumatology at Aarhus University.

‘My goal one year from now is not only to have learnt a lot more about autoimmune diseases but to have added a vital piece to the collective scientific puzzle, and DARE has given me a unique opportunity to achieve this,’ says Wibrand, and she continues:

‘I dream of a future in the paediatric research community, and during my stay in the US, I will be conducting an important paediatric research project of the highest scientific standard at one of the world’s leading universities. DARE has helped me make this a reality.’

Camilla Wibrand, 26, has one year left to complete when she returns to her studies at Aarhus University. She is one of five Danish medical students who have travelled to the USA with the Lundbeck Foundation's DARE (Danish American Research Exchange) programme. Wibrand will spend the year on her studies and on research at University of California in San Francisco (UCSF) – one of the world’s most prestigious universities.