معرفی
Laura Donlin, PhD is an Associate Professor at Weill Cornell Medical School and Graduate School of Medical Sciences, with a primary appointment as Principal Investigator at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) Research Institute. She serves as Co-Director of the Derfner Foundation Precision Medicine Laboratory at HSS and leads a research program focused on defining mechanisms of the human immune system at the molecular level through analysis of patient samples with high-dimensional molecular technologies.
Dr. Donlin received her B.S. in Biology from Villanova University (1998), followed by a Ph.D. in Signaling and Immunology from Columbia University (2004). She completed postdoctoral training in Epigenetics and Immunology at Rockefeller University (2012) and further postdoctoral work in Human Immunology at Hospital for Special Surgery (2016).
Her research program focuses on autoimmune and musculoskeletal disorders, particularly rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and related conditions. Key areas of investigation include:
- Rheumatoid arthritis molecular subtypes and optimized treatment
- Immune checkpoint inhibitor arthritis (ICI-arthritis)
- Autoimmune muscle disease
- Musculoskeletal tumors
- Prosthetic joint infections
- Synovial tumors
Dr. Donlin's recent work has been instrumental in identifying new subtypes of rheumatoid arthritis through molecular analysis of patient joint biopsies. This research, published in high-impact journals including Nature, has the potential to transform RA treatment by enabling personalized approaches based on specific molecular signatures rather than the current trial-and-error methodology. Her publications reveal a strong focus on synovial tissue analysis, cellular heterogeneity, and the application of advanced computational methods to understand disease mechanisms.
Her scientific contributions have been recognized with numerous awards:
- NIH, NIAMS K01 Career Development Award (2012)
- Ben Pernis Memorial Lectures awardee, FASEB Autoimmunity Conference (2017)
- PhRMA Foundation Predoctoral Fellow (2003)
- NIH, NIAID F32 NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow (2006)
Dr. Donlin leads multidisciplinary research teams participating in the NIH-industry sponsored Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP) consortium and the NIH Impact of Genomic Variation on Function (IGVF) consortium. Her laboratory collaborates closely with HSS rheumatologists, surgeons, and pathologists to rapidly collect and analyze molecular features of disease from clinically well-characterized patients, leveraging HSS's position as the largest U.S. research hospital for orthopedics and rheumatology.
