A New Research Hub for Autoimmunity and Immune Health at Penn Medicine

Penn Medicine has officially opened a reimagined research facility at 3600 Civic Center Boulevard in Philadelphia, marking a major milestone for autoimmune and immune health research. The building — an eight-story addition atop an existing structure — brings together researchers from the Colton Center for Autoimmunity, the Institute for Immunology and Immune Health, vaccinology, virology, and infectious disease under one roof, with the explicit goal of sparking the kind of cross-disciplinary collaboration that drives scientific breakthroughs.

The 217,000-square-foot wet lab and research facility was made possible in part by the Coltons’ $50 million gift in 2022, matched by Penn, which funded the Colton Center’s dedicated space within the building. The center serves as the anchor of the Colton Consortium, the four-institution network spanning Penn, NYU, Yale, and Tel Aviv University.

At the heart of the facility’s mission is Penn Medicine’s “Immune Health” initiative, led by Dr. E. John Wherry. His team is conducting deep immune profiling to map each patient’s unique immune fingerprint — a personalized blueprint that could transform how autoimmune and other immune-mediated diseases are diagnosed and treated. The building also houses the High-Throughput Institute for Discovery, focused on accelerating drug discovery and matching patients with the most effective treatments.

The facility was designed not just for cutting-edge science, but for human connection — with open collaboration spaces intended to foster the kind of chance encounters that, as Penn’s own history shows, can lead to Nobel Prize-winning discoveries.