Professional Bio
Rachel Bonami, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology and Immunology in the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Department of Medicine. She is jointly appointed as an Assistant Professor of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology.
Dr. Bonami's research program focuses on identifying autoantigen-specific B cells to define their phenotypic and functional attributes in people at risk for type 1 diabetes, patients with spontaneous autoimmune diseases such as myositis and Sjogren's syndrome, and patients who develop autoimmunity following immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy.
In the Bonami Lab, her team works to develop approaches to harness autoreactive B cells as more selective biomarkers and identify pathways to target to limit autoreactive B cell survival and function.
Dr. Bonami has shown that anti-insulin B lymphocytes can be selectively eliminated using a monoclonal antibody to prevent type 1 diabetes in a preclinical model. This work received a Faculty of 1000 recommendation and suggests that such an approach holds promise for the prevention of type 1 diabetes without exposing patients to broad immunosuppression.
Relevant Links
Publications
Education
PhD - Microbiology and Immunilogy - Vanderbilt University, 2009
Fellowship - Postdoctoral trainee - Vanderbilt University, 2016
Contact
Email
Kimryn.Rathmell@Vumc.Org
Address
777 Preston Research Building
2220 Pierce Ave
Nashville, TN 37232-6307