Miriam Shelef, MD, PhD | Rheumatoid Arthritis Research

Dr. Miriam Shelef is an immunologist and a rheumatologist with a research program focused on better understanding the pathophysiology of rheumatoid arthritis to inform the development of novel biomarkers and treatments.
Dr. Miriam Shelef’s Faculty Biography
Pathophysiology of Autoimmune Disease
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.
- Define the role of citrullination and the citrullinating peptidylarginine deiminase enzymes in immunity, inflammation, and rheumatoid arthritis
- Use traditional methodology and cutting-edge high density array technology with innovative statistical methods in collaboration with Dr. Michael Newton to discover new autoantibody targets as well as novel features of antibody and autoantibody reactivity in rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and other autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

Research Team

Research Assistant

Graduate Student

Graduate Student

Research Intern

Undergraduate Student
Alumni

Ryan Adyniec
Past Position: Undergraduate student
Next Position: Impact Networking

Mandar Bawadekar, PhD
Past Position: Postdoctoral fellow
Next Position: Senior scientist at Invenra

Amy Bier
Past Position: Study coordinator and research assistant
Next Position: Medical student, Stritch School of Medicine of Loyola University Chicago

Michael Denny, PhD
Scientist

Tobias Donlon
Past Position: Study coordinator and research assistant
Next Position: Medical student, University of Minnesota Medical School

Lauren Fahmy
Past Position: Undergraduate student
Next Position: Medical student at Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

Christopher Glover
Past Position: Study coordinator and research assistant
Next Position: Medical student, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

Srishti Gupta
Past Position: Undergraduate student
Next Position: Associate clinical research coordinator at Rush University

Caitlyn Holmes
Past Position: Graduate student
Next Position: Postdoctoral fellow, University of Michigan

Aisha Mergaert
Past Position: Graduate student
Next Position: Postdoctoral fellow, University of Wisconsin

Chloe Peyton
Past Position: Undergraduate student
Next Position: Medical student, University of Minnesota Medical School

Nicole Rademacher
Past Position: Study coordinator and research assistant
Next Position: Medical student at Medical College of Wisconsin

Ryan Rebernick
Past Position: Undergraduate student
Next Position: MD/PhD student at the University of Michigan

Rebecca (Daeun) Shim
Past Position: Study coordinator and research assistant
Next Position: Master's student at Rush University

Zihao Zheng
Past Position: Graduate student
Next Position: Data scientist at Google
Publications
View Dr. Miriam Shelef’s publications on NCBI My Bibliography
Funding Support
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.
Make a Gift
Help support research by making a gift to the Department of Medicine's Rheumatology Fund for Excellence.