Seaver Institute Funds Autoimmune Disease Research and Yale Library Cuban Collection

The Seaver Institute has awarded a grant to the Yale School of Medicine for research on autoimmune disease and has also funded the enhancement and study of the Cuban collection at the Yale Library.

The grant to the School of Medicine will advance the work of Associate Professor of Internal Medicine/Endocrinology Li Wen, M.D., principal investigator on research titled “Dendritic Cell Therapy for Autoimmune Disease.” Wen has been working in the field of autoimmune diseases for many years, both in animal models of human autoimmune diseases and humans with various types of autoimmune disorders.

Autoimmune diseases arise when the T lymphocytes of the immune system attack the body’s own tissues. Wen focused her efforts particularly on Type–1 diabetes, where the immune cells destroy the insulin–producing ß cells. “The ultimate goal is to find more effective interventions for the disease,” said Wen.

Wen and her colleagues have developed an animal model of Type–1 diabetes that expresses one of the genes involved in human diabetes—HLA–DQ8. It causes the mice to develop spontaneous diabetes. She also studies the non–obese diabetic mouse, a very commonly used model of Type–1 diabetes. Her research that is funded by The Seaver Institute will focus on development of a cellular therapy using dendritic cells that are also very important for immune system function. She will also aim to find ways of using dendritic cells to protect the animal models from the disease. This will pave the way for development of protective therapy that could be used to prevent human Type–1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.

The Seaver Institute has also funded the Yale Library and the Department of History for a research project titled “Visions of Power, Nation and Revolution in Cuba, 1959–1999.” This will provide access to materials in the Cuban Collection at Yale Library. The collection covers the early years of the Cuban revolution, including documentary footage and photographs that provide important insight into daily operations of the revolutionaries and offer first–hand accounts of their victories and rise to power.

“Unlocking this collection will have a palpable effect on the momentum of my research project, and digitization will multiply the value of the collection many times over,” said History Professor Lillian Guerra. “Yale’s Cuba Collection is immensely valuable for historians of 20th century Cuba and comparative revolutionary movements and scholars from other disciplines that are eager to understand this momentous period in history.”

The Seaver Institute, based in Los Angeles, California, was established through the generosity of the late Frank Seaver. The Institute specializes in funding high–risk creative research projects that have potential to innovate their respective fields.