Yale Launches Colton Center for Autoimmunity to Fast-Track Research Across Disciplines

When Yale immunologist Dr. Joseph Craft took the helm of the newly launched Colton Center for Autoimmunity at Yale, he had a clear mandate: take decades of autoimmune research and turn it into real-world treatments. Writing in Yale Medicine Magazine, Craft outlined an ambitious vision for a center designed to fund bold, cross-disciplinary ideas — not just from immunologists, but from engineers, chemists, and any Yale researcher with a promising concept.

The Colton Center at Yale grew from an initiative that began at NYU Langone Health in 2013, when the Judith and Stewart Colton Center for Autoimmunity was established to find new approaches to diagnosing and treating autoimmune diseases. Craft, who had served on NYU’s advisory board, was a natural choice to lead Yale’s expansion of that effort.

With funding planned for up to ten years, the center set out to award grants annually — targeting roughly eight proposals in its first year — with the goal of generating intellectual property that could be translated into therapies. The application process was intentionally streamlined, with Craft emphasizing that the goal was to eliminate bureaucracy and get promising ideas funded quickly.

An advisory committee spanning immunobiology faculty, external academics, and private sector experts in technology transfer was assembled to review proposals. The center also aligned with Yale’s broader University Science Strategy Commitment, which identified inflammation — the overarching category that includes autoimmune disease — as a priority research area.