Yale’s Colton Center for Autoimmunity Awards Nearly $1M to Nine Research Projects in 2025

The Colton Center for Autoimmunity at Yale has named its 2025 class of awardees, selecting nine translationally focused research projects for funding totaling nearly $1 million. The awards span multiple departments and disciplines — from biomedical engineering and computer science to psychiatry, neurology, and dermatology — reflecting the center’s commitment to cross-disciplinary approaches to autoimmune disease.

This year’s cohort includes some particularly novel directions. Prof. Craig Crews is developing oral inhibitors of IL4Ra, a key driver of allergic and autoimmune inflammation. Prof. Mark Gerstein and his team are applying artificial intelligence to target the dynamic states of immunopathogenic proteins. Prof. Smita Krishnaswamy is building ImmunoStruct, a multimodal AI tool for predicting autoimmunity-related epitopes. And Prof. Christopher Pittenger is investigating pathogenic antibodies as a potential driver of rapid-onset neuroinflammatory pediatric OCD — a striking example of the expanding frontier of autoimmunity research.

Other funded projects include a first-in-class antibody targeting a process called NETosis, RNA-based biomarkers for multiple sclerosis progression, nanoparticle drug delivery for lupus nephritis, a novel ferroptosis inhibitor for inflammatory bowel disease, and research into skin immune trafficking and inflammation.

Established in 2019 through a gift from Judith and Stewart Colton and managed by Yale Ventures, the center is designed to bridge the gap between scientific discovery and commercial application — providing not just funding but mentorship and industry guidance to help researchers bring their work to patients.