News and Events

The Penn Colton Center for Autoimmunity convened its annual symposium on April 16, 2025, at the historic Franklin Institute, bringing together approximately 150 members of the Penn immunology community and spotlighting a period of remarkable growth and renewed purpose. With new headquarters on the horizon, bold initiatives underway, and a growing network of investigators, the Center reaffirmed its mission to advance autoimmune health and cultivate a collaborative, world-class research community.

The day began with opening remarks from John Wherry, PhD, Director of the Penn Colton Center, who emphasized the Center’s rapid evolution and its far-reaching impact on the field. His remarks set the tone for a symposium that showcased not only the breadth and rigor of research at Penn, but also the power of global collaboration through the Colton Consortium for Autoimmunity—an international partnership among leading investigators at New York University, Yale University, and Tel Aviv University, supported by the generosity of Judith and Stewart Colton.

Wherry, who also serves as the Director of the Institute for Immunology and Immune Health (I3H), Chair of the Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics, and the Richard and Barbara Schiffrin President’s Distinguished Professor at the Perelman School of Medicine, provided an in-depth look at the Penn Colton Center’s upcoming relocation to 3600 Civic Center Boulevard—a transformative move beginning in July 2025. Part of a seven-floor expansion led by the Perelman School of Medicine, the new space will unite Penn’s leading immunologists and their laboratories under one roof, fostering scientific synergy and deepening clinical integration with the Pavilion and the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. The dedicated Colton floor will house 6–8 state-of-the-art laboratories, offices for core faculty and staff, collaborative workspace, and advanced instrumentation to generate high-dimensional immune data, laying the foundation for the next generation of precision immunotherapy in autoimmunity. 

Showcasing & Scaling Discovery

Building on that momentum, the day featured cutting-edge research presentations and engaging panel discussions spanning topics from fundamental immune mechanisms to real-world clinical applications across diseases—demonstrating the wide-reaching relevance of immune health. Speakers included both established leaders and emerging voices, reflecting the Center’s commitment to cross-disciplinary collaboration and career development. 

This first session spanned a wide scientific spectrum—from the microanatomic intricacies of lupus nephritis as presented by Edward Behrens, MD, the Joseph Hollander Chair in Pediatric Rheumatology and Co-Director of the Autoimmunity Program at I3H, to cutting-edge approaches for early detection of type 1 diabetes using multiomic data and machine learning as presented by Golnaz Vahedi, PhD, Associate Professor of Genetics and Deputy Director of I3H. Jonathan Miner, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine (Rheumatology), and Christoph Ellebrecht, MD, Assistant Professor of Dermatology, rounded out the session with presentations on TREX1-targeted small molecules for treating human disease and T-cell adaptation to human skin, respectively. Audience engagement was strong throughout, with lively discussion from both in-person and online participants.

Running alongside the talks, a research poster exhibition highlighted work by Penn graduate students, postdocs, and trainees—underscoring the Center’s investment in early-career investigators and providing a platform for rich dialogue around innovative approaches and ideas.

A key session of the day was an in-depth panel discussion on “The State of the Colton Consortium,” moderated by Wherry and featuring Allison Greenplate, PhD; Director of Strategic Alliance& Operations for the Institute of Immunology and Immune Health (I3H); Alexis Ogdie, MD, MSCE, Associate Professor of Medicine (Rheumatology); and Joost Wagenaar, PhD, Assistant Professor ofInformatics. The conversation explored the Consortium’s contributions to immunology and precision medicine, with a focus on the Colton Moonshot Program—a proposed initiative aimed at profiling more than 10,000 autoimmune patients to identify “autoimmune fingerprints,” or the unique patterns of autoantibodies and other immune markers in an individual's blood that could transform the diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune diseases. 

“What we’re trying to do is fundamentally different from traditional human research,” said Greenplate. “We’re aiming to scale in a way that allows us to gather the same type of data across more than 10,000 patients or visits. That scale shapes what’s feasible—both logistically and financially. Given those constraints and the timeframes we’re working within, blood becomes the obvious choice. Everyone has it, and it serves as a powerful conduit for what’s happening throughout the body.”

In his closing remarks for the panel, Wherry emphasized Penn’s leadership in the field, noting that the University is home to one of the nation’s largest and most collaborative immunology communities. He highlighted how this uniquely dynamic environment continues to attract top talent and fuel innovation, pointing to Penn Immune Health initiatives and platforms such as the Pennsieve Platform for Data Management as key resources supporting discovery and translation. 

“We’re in a really unique position—because of the generosity of the Coltons—but also this community,” said Wherry. “My challenge to all of you is to think about the places where we can really be differentiated, like a tissue bank if it can be done properly—or like some of the other comments that have come up in this discussion—and bring us creative proposals. Be bold, be innovative, take some risks, and we will be excited to see how we can support that.”

Looking Ahead: Innovation, Industry & Investment

The afternoon continued with a dynamic series of flash talks and a new faculty lecture on novel insights from T-cell epitope mapping from Mohammad Haj Dezfulian, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, who joined the University and Center in January 2025. These sessions were followed by updates from each of the Centers of Excellence: Center of Excellence for Cell Therapy in Autoimmunity (CECTA), Colton Center for RNA Exploration in Autoimmune Therapeutics (CREATE), and High-Throughput Center for AutoImmune Therapeutic Discovery (HIT-AI). The day concluded with a fireside chat between Wherry and Leonardo Guercio, PhD, Director of Strategy and Business Development for the Penn Colton Center for Autoimmunity, offering a candid discussion on academic-industry collaboration, the evolving landscape of immunotherapy, and shared visions for accelerating innovation in autoimmune disease research—including how to navigate shifts in federal funding and sustain long-term research momentum.

“Academic science is going to look different going forward […] So I've said to a couple of you today, we can either create the future or we can be victims of it. If we accept the fact that it's going to be different, I think we have to own at least part of creating that future,” said Wherry. 

Following the day’s formal programming, attendees gathered for a networking reception—an opportunity to continue the day’s lively discussions, forge new collaborations, and reflect on the themes and insights that emerged throughout the symposium. Conversations spanned everything from data harmonization strategies to shared ambitions for expanding patient engagement and translation.

As the event drew to a close, it left attendees energized by the possibilities ahead and united in their mission to drive progress in autoimmune research. The momentum will carry forward into the next gathering of the Colton Consortium for Autoimmunity, set to convene July 16-19, 2025, in New York City—where investigators from across the global network will build on shared discoveries, deepen collaborative ties, and shape the future of autoimmune health.