Tel Aviv University’s Colton Center for Autoimmunity has announced nine grant-winning research teams for 2024, spanning a broad range of scientific and clinical approaches to autoimmune disease. The awards include development grants of $200,000, Eureka pilot grants of $50,000, and a special emergency grant category introduced following the events of October 7, 2023, to study the relationship between acute stress and autoimmune disease.
The two development grant recipients are pursuing particularly novel platforms: Prof. Ben Maoz is developing a “Mini-Me-on-a-Chip” — a microfluidic organ-on-a-chip system for modeling autoimmune disease — while Dr. Maayan Gal and Dr. Ehud Zigmond are exploring a new class of calcineurin inhibitors as a potential treatment for acute colitis.
The emergency grant awardees are examining how psychological stress interacts with immune function — studying its effects on multiple sclerosis relapse risk and on autoimmune exacerbation more broadly, reflecting a growing area of scientific interest in the mind-body dimensions of immune disease.
The Eureka grants — organized around the themes of Autoimmunity & Ecology and Autoimmunity & Mind — fund projects ranging from extracellular vesicles as biomarkers for lupus, to postpartum Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, to the neurological and psychological dimensions of Crohn’s disease. The interdisciplinary teams draw researchers from TAU, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Aviv Medical Center, Bar-Ilan University, and the Weizmann Institute of Science, as well as one collaborator from Yale.
Featured Experts
Katsuo Kurabayashi, PhD
Colton Consortium Member
Department Chair, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, NYU Tandon School of Engineering
Carla R. Nowosad, PhD
Colton Consortium Member
Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine / NYU Langone Health
Jun Wang, PhD
Colton Consortium Member
Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine / NYU Langone HealthFeatured Projects
Developing a Multi-parameter Prognostic Prediction Model for Disability Ranks and Progression of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis at the Early Stages of the Disease
Integrating clinical, imaging, and biological data from large real-world MS cohorts, this project builds a machine learning model to predict disability progression early and enable personalized treatment decisions.
Immunotherapy-Related Adverse Effects as Models for Fragile Tolerance in Humans
Using cancer patients experiencing immunotherapy-triggered autoimmunity as a unique human model, this project uncovers the molecular and epigenetic mechanisms by which self-reactive T cells escape immune tolerance.
Featured Publications
Tolebrutinib in nonrelapsing secondary progressive multiple sclerosis
Related News
A Growing Network Takes Stock: Highlights from the 2026 Colton Consortium Symposium
Global leaders in autoimmune research gathered for the 2025 Colton Consortium Symposium last month, sharing breakthroughs from foundational science to translational therapies and forging collaborations to improve patient lives worldwide.
$5M Gift Establishes Colton Center for Autoimmunity at Mount Sinai to Advance Precision Medicine for Autoimmune Diseases
A $5 million gift from Judith and Stewart Colton establishes a Colton Center for Autoimmunity at Mount Sinai, expanding the Colton Consortium and advancing precision, early-detection approaches to autoimmune disease research.
What a "Silenced" Chromosome Can Tell Us About Autoimmunity
Penn Colton Center researcher Montserrat Anguera reveals how B cells maintain X chromosome inactivation, and how its breakdown drives lupus, offering new insight into female-biased autoimmune disease and treatment targets.