Emory University Department of Medicine

Welcome to the Lowance Center for Human Immunology

Welcome to the Kathleen B. and Mason I. Lowance Center for Human Immunology, where the science of immunology meets clinical medicine.

Traditionally, the immune system has been implicated in causing autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis or systemic lupus erythematosus. Over the last decade, inflammation has emerged as an important disease mechanism in many different specialties, and inflammatory tissue injury is now recognized as a disease pathway in coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus, osteoarthritis, and neurodegenerative diseases.

Inflammation is mediated by cells of the immune system and is a life-saving defense mechanism that protects us against infections and tumors and plays a critical role in tissue repair. Chronic persistent inflammation, often present without an obvious instigator, harms more than it helps and is an indicator of immune dysfunction. Novel diagnostic tools and therapeutic strategies in managing inflammatory disease will require a better understanding of the human immune system.

In individuals older than 50 years of age, the immune system shows signs of deterioration. These people are more susceptible to infections, such as influenza, and are more likely to develop cancer and acquire inflammatory syndromes, such as coronary artery disease. The science of how the immune system ages and how immune aging can be slowed down is entering clinical medicine.

Emory University has an outstanding faculty performing research in basic immunology and providing care for patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. The Lowance Center is an initiative of the Department of Medicine to cut across the traditional academic divisions in medicine and to translate new knowledge in basic immunology to human immune-mediated diseases.