Immune Health Project

Immune Health at PennMedicine

Announcing the Establishment of the Institute for Immunology & Immune Health (I3H)

We are delighted to introduce the establishment of the Institute for Immunology & Immune Health (I3H), a reorganization of the Institute for Immunology (IFI) and Immune Health, led by E. John Wherry, PhD and Allie Greenplate, PhD.

Penn is a national leader in advancing knowledge of the basic immunology of inflammation, autoimmunity, cancer, transplantation, and infection. In recent years, the immunology community at Penn has recognized the ability to translate this knowledge of the immune system into innovative novel strategies to diagnose, treat and prevent disease. This effort has been crystallized within the Penn Immune Health Project. Translating novel scientific discoveries into clinically actionable tools requires innovative research, a platform to scale human research, and infrastructure that spans both lab and clinic. To accomplish the goals of deploying routine human immune profiling for real-time clinical decision making to benefit patients while fueling discovery science in patients, there is an opportunity to harmonize and align the missions of the IFI and Immune Health.

As a new organization, I3H will bring together basic together discovery immunology and translational research with infrastructure to scale and integrate immunological knowledge into the electronic medical record. Merging the two entities, will leverage the campus-wide organizational structure of the IFI and bring broad expertise in fundamental immunology to clinical application of Immune Health. I3H will in turn, create broader opportunities to address diverse aspects of immunology in human health and disease, enable discovery and mechanistic science of human disease, and leverage Penn Medicine’s first-mover position in immunology to lead the transformation of routine human immune profiling for impact across medical disciplines.

*Stay tuned for our new I3H Website, coming soon!*


Penn Institute for Immunology & Immune Health (I3H)

2023 Pilot Grant Program RFA

The Penn Institute for Immunology & Immune Health (I3H) is announcing two pilot grants for research focused on Immune Health.

The immune system is intrinsic to human health and disease, acting as a tightly regulated sensory system that balances internal and external factors to promote host survival. This ability to treat human disease using the immune system requires basic, mechanistic studies on immune system development & function in preclinical models. This foundation enables the ability to determine how individual people carry unique, stable immune profiles that are globally or transiently perturbed by lifestyle, pathogens, or other environmental factors. Connecting immune profiles and trajectories to health outcomes is key for promoting precision medicine and increasing our understanding of basic human immunology.  We are seeking pilot applications to explore the role of immune health in diagnosing, treating and/or preventing human disease.

The deadline for full applications is 11:00pm on Friday, May 12, 2023.

FULL RFA and Submission instructions can be found here: https://www.med.upenn.edu/apps/i3h/apply
CONTACT:
Kaitlyn Piazza, kbaraldi@pennmedicine.upenn.edu