Shelef Research

Dr. Shelef's research aims to solve the mysteries of how and why systemic autoimmunity develops and persists in order to guide the discovery of better clinical tests and improved treatments. Her lab has two major research directions.

1. Define the role of citrullination and the citrullinating peptidylarginine deiminase enzymes in immunity, inflammation, and rheumatoid arthritis
2. Discover new autoantibody targets as well as novel features of antibody and autoantibody reactivity in rheumatoid arthritis, pre-clinical rheumatoid arthritis, infections, systemic lupus erythematosus, and other autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

Alumni

Ryan Adyniec

Past Position: Undergraduate Researcher

Next Position: Account Manager, Impact Networking, LLC

Current Position: Certified Flight Instructor, Wisconsin Aviation, Inc.

Maya Amjadi

Past Position: MD/PhD student

Next/Current Position: Psychiatry Resident, University of Arizona

Sirtaij Arora

Past Position: Undergraduate Researcher

Next/Current Position: Medical Student, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

Janna Bashar

Past Position: PhD student

Next/Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California San Francisco

Mandar Bawadekar, PhD

Past Position: Postdoctoral Fellow

Next Position: Senior Scientist, Invenra

Current Position: Director of Immunology, Eli Lilly and Company

Amy Bier

Past Position: Research Intern

Next Position: Medical Student, Stritch School of Medicine of Loyola University Chicago

Current Position: Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellow, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

Michael Denny, PhD

Past Position: Scientist

Next Position: Senior Research Scientist, Rockland Immunochemicals, Inc.

Tobias Donlon

Past Position: Research Intern

Next Position: Medical Student, University of Minnesota Medical School

Current Position: Pediatric Cardiology Fellow, University of Minnesota Medical School

Lauren Fahmy

Past Position: Undergraduate Researcher

Next Position: Medical Student, Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

Current Position: Dermatology Resident, Columbia University

Christopher Glover

Past Position: Research Intern

Next Position: Medical Student, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

Current Position: Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Fellow, Massachusetts General Hospital

Srishti Gupta

Past Position: Undergraduate Researcher

Next Position: Associate Clinical Research Coordinator, Rush University

Current Position: Medical Student, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

Caitlyn Holmes

Past Position: PhD Student

Next Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Michigan

Current Position: Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota 

Aisha Mergaert

Past Position: PhD Student

Next Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Wisconsin

Current Position: Principal Scientist, Discovery Life Sciences

Maxwell Parker

Past Position: Research Intern

Next Position: Research Specialsit, JangoBio

Current Position: PhD Student, Scripps Research

Chloe Peyton

Past Position: Undergraduate Researcher

Next Position: Medical Student, University of Minnesota Medical School

Current Position: Rheumatology Fellow, University of Nebraska Medical Center

Nicole Rademacher

Past Position: Research Intern

Next Position: Medical Student, Medical College of Wisconsin

Current Position: General Surgery Resident, The University of Alabama at Birmingham

Ryan Rebernick

Past Position: Undergraduate Researcher

Next/Current Position: MD/PhD Student, University of Michigan

Daeun (Rebecca)Shim

Past Position: Undergraduate Researcher and Research Intern

Next Position: Master's Student, Rush University

Current Position: PhD Student, University of Wisconsin—Madison

Zihao Zheng

Past Position: PhD Student

Next/Current Position: Data Scientist, Google

Rheumatology

The UW Rheumatology Biorepository was established in the fall of 2015 by Dr. Miriam Shelef. It is a secure, confidential repository for clinical information and biologic samples primarily from people who have rheumatologic disease, but also from people without rheumatologic disease. Currently, about 1,000 people have agreed to participate in the biorepository and have contributed samples. More people participate and contribute samples every day.

Dr. Shelef's research has been supported by the Rheumatology Research Foundation, the NIH NIAMS, the Wisconsin Partnership Program, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, and the University of Wisconsin.