Skip to main content
The William Harvey Research Institute - Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry

Breadcrumb

  1. WHRI
  2. Research Centres
  3. Centre for Experimental Medicine & Rheumatology
  4. Facts and figures

Facts and figures

The EMR brings together a distinguished, multidisciplinary team of researchers and clinicians advancing the understanding and treatment of autoimmune and musculoskeletal diseases. 

  • Led by Professor Costantino Pitzalis, an internationally recognised expert in inflammatory arthritis and precision medicine, and supported by Deputy Lead Professor Michele Bombardieri, whose work centres on Sjögren’s disease and lymphoma development, the EMR spans expertise from fundamental immunology to cutting-edge clinical trials. Faculty members contribute across key areas including osteoarthritis and regenerative medicine, systemic lupus erythematosus, neuro-immune mechanisms of pain, and advanced bioinformatics and machine learning approaches to personalised care.

  • The EMR maintains a strong funding portfolio, with 10 active grants spanning competitive and industry sources, totalling over £31 million. Since the June 2025 grant activation cut-off, the team has secured more than £5.6 million in additional funding (exceeding £5.7 million when including grants under £100K).

  • The EMR is supported by advanced facilities and technical platforms that enable cutting-edge research. These include the Biacore 1K+ for real-time analysis of biomolecular interactions, the EMR Biobank with samples from over 1,000 patients, the NanoString nCounter for amplification-free high-throughput analysis, and the 10x Genomics Chromium supporting the development of single-cell transcriptomic capabilities.

  • The EMR has successfully developed and established the Precision Musculoskeletal Sciences MSc at Queen Mary University of London/Barts Health NHS Trust, which will launch in September with an anticipated annual intake of 15–25 trainees to develop specialist skills.

  • The centre is currently managing a diverse pipeline that includes over six sponsored trials, alongside eleven hosted trials and a further three hosted commercial trials in the set-up phase.
  • Ramos-Casals M, Baer AN, Brito-Zerón MDP, Hammitt KM, Bouillot C, Retamozo S, Mackey A, Yarowsky D, Turner B, Blanck J, Fisher BA, Akpek EK, Baldini C, Bootsma H, Bowman SJ, Dörner T, Laing L, Lieberman SM, Mariette X, Pflugfelder SC, Sankar V, Sisó-Almirall A, Tzioufas AG, Anaya JM, Armağan B, Bombardieri M, Carsons S, de Vita S, Fox RI, Gerli R, Giacomelli R, Gottenberg JE, Hernández-Molina G, Jonsson R, Kruize A, Kwok SK, Li X, McCoy SS, Ng WF, Olsson P, Rischmueller M, Saraux A, Scofield RH, Valim V, Vitali C, Vivino F, Wahren-Herlenius M, Moutsopoulos HM. International Task Force on Nomenclature of Sjögren Disease., International Rome consensus for the nomenclature of Sjögren disease. Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2025 Jul;21(7):426-437. 
    DOI: 10.1038/s41584-025-01268-z

  • Sallan MC, Filipsky F, Shi CH, Pontarini E, Terranova-Barberio M, Beattie G, Clear A, Bombardieri M, Yip KY, Calado DP, Cragg MS, James S, Carter M, Okosun J, Gribben JG, Klymenko T, Braun A. Autophagy is an upstream mediator of chromatin dynamics in normal and autoimmune germinal center B cells. J Clin Invest. 2025 May 15;135(13):e178920. 
    DOI: 10.1172/JCI178920

  • Duquesne J, Basseto L, Claye C, Barnes M, Pontarini E, Gallagher-Syed A, Bombardieri M, Fisher BA, Nayar S, Brown R, Tzioufas A, Goules A, Chatzis L, Thompson K, Berry J, Ng WF, Bandeira M, Romão VC, López-Presa MD, Nocturne G, Ouerdane W, Molina T, Lazure T, Adam C, Mariette X, Bouget V, Bitoun S. Machine learning to classify the focus score and Sjögren's disease using digitalised salivary gland biopsies: a retrospective cohort study. Lancet Rheumatol. 2025 Dec;7(12):e864-e872.
    DOI: 10.1016/S2665-9913(25)00181-X
  • De Lima J, Boutet M-A, Bortolotti O, Chépeaux L-A, Glasson Y, Dumé A-S, Lau R, Humbert P, Allain S, Le Pluart A, Nerviani A, Fossati-Jimack L, Michaud H-A, Guicheux J, Le Goff B, Lewis MJ, Pitzalis C, Courties G, Apparailly F, Blanchard F. Spatial mapping of rheumatoid arthritis synovial niches reveals a LYVE1+ macrophage network associated with response to therapy. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. 2025 Dec;84(12):1955-1967. 
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ard.2025.07.019

  • Chevet B, Devauchelle-Pensec V, Pontarini E, Baloche V, Bombardieri M, Bowman SJ, Barnes M, Sreih AG, Liu J, Kelly S. Transcriptomic stratification predicts response to rituximab, abatacept, or the association of hydroxychloroquine and leflunomide in 3 randomised controlled clinical trials of Sjögren's disease. Ann Rheum Dis. 2025 Dec 24:S0003-4967(25)04549-2.
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ard.2025.11.017

  • Mauro D, Lin X, Pontarini E, Wehr P, Guggino G, Tang Y, Deng C, Gandolfo S, Xiao F, Rui K, Huang E, Tian J, Raimondo S, Rischmueller M, Boroky J, Downie-Doyle S, Nel H, Baz-Morelli A, Hsu A, Maraskovsky E, Barr A, Hemon P, Chatzis L, Boschetti CE, Colella G, Alessandro R, Rizzo A, Pers JO, Bombardieri M, Thomas R, Lu L, Ciccia F. CD8<sup>+</sup> tissue-resident memory T cells are expanded in primary Sjögren's disease and can be therapeutically targeted by CD103 blockade. Ann Rheum Dis. 2024 May 22:ard-2023-225069. 
    DOI: 10.1136/ard-2023-225069

  • Bai Z, Bartelo N, Aslam M, Murphy EA, Hale CR, Blachere NE, Parveen S, Spolaore E, DiCarlo E, Gravallese EM, Smith MH; Accelerating Medicines, Partnership RA/SLE Network; Frank MO, Jiang CS, Zhang H, Pyrgaki C, Lewis MJ, Sikandar S, Pitzalis C, Lesnak JB, Mazhar K, Price TJ, Malfait AM, Miller RE, Zhang F, Goodman S, Darnell RB, Wang F, Orange DE. Synovial fibroblast gene expression is associated with sensory nerve growth and pain in rheumatoid arthritis. Sci Transl Med. 2024 Apr 10;16(742):eadk3506. Epub 2024 Apr 10. PMID: 38598614.
    DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adk3506

  • Berry JS, Tarn J, Casement J, Duret PM, Scott L, Wood K, Johnsen SJ, Nordmark G, Devauchelle-Pensec V, Seror R, Fisher B, Barone F, Bowman SJ, Bombardieri M, Lendrem D, Felten R, Gottenberg JE, Ng WF. Examining the biological pathways underlying clinical heterogeneity in Sjogren's syndrome: proteomic and network analysis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2024 Jan 2;83(1):88-95. PMID: 37657927.
    DOI: 10.1136/ard-2023-224503

  • Zhang F, Jonsson AH, Nathan A, Millard N, Curtis M, Xiao Q, Gutierrez-Arcelus M, Apruzzese W, Watts GFM, Weisenfeld D, Nayar S, Rangel-Moreno J, Meednu N, Marks KE, Mantel I, Kang JB, Rumker L, Mears J, Slowikowski K, Weinand K, Orange DE, Geraldino-Pardilla L, Deane KD, Tabechian D, Ceponis A, Firestein GS, Maybury M, Sahbudin I, Ben-Artzi A, Mandelin AM 2nd, Nerviani A, Lewis MJ, Rivellese F, Pitzalis C, Hughes LB, Horowitz D, DiCarlo E, Gravallese EM, Boyce BF; Accelerating Medicines Partnership: RA/SLE Network; Moreland LW, Goodman SM, Perlman H, Holers VM, Liao KP, Filer A, Bykerk VP, Wei K, Rao DA, Donlin LT, Anolik JH, Brenner MB, Raychaudhuri S. Deconstruction of rheumatoid arthritis synovium defines inflammatory subtypes. Nature. 2023 Nov;623(7987):616-624. Epub 2023 Nov 8. PMID: 37938773; PMCID: PMC10651487. 
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06708-y

  • Kugler M, Dellinger M, Kartnig F, Müller L, Preglej T, Heinz LX, Simader E, Göschl L, Puchner SE, Weiss S, Shaw LE, Farlik M, Weninger W, Superti-Furga G, Smolen JS, Steiner G, Aletaha D, Kiener HP, Lewis MJ, Pitzalis C, Tosevska A, Karonitsch T, Bonelli M. Cytokine-directed cellular cross-talk imprints synovial pathotypes in rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2023 Sep;82(9):1142-1152. Epub 2023 Jun 21.
    DOI: 10.1136/ard-2022-223396

  • Fu H, Vuononvirta J, Fanti S, Bonacina F, D'Amati A, Wang G, Poobalasingam T, Fankhaenel M, Lucchesi D, Coleby R, Tarussio D, Thorens B, Hearnden RJ, Longhi MP, Grevitt P, Sheikh MH, Solito E, Godinho SA, Bombardieri M, Smith DM, Cooper D, Iqbal AJ, Rathmell JC, Schaefer S, Morales V, Bianchi K, Norata GD, Marelli-Berg FM. The glucose transporter 2 regulates CD8+ T cell function via environment sensing. Nat Metab. 2023 Nov;5(11):1969-1985. Epub 2023 Oct 26. PMID: 37884694
    DOI: 10.1038/s42255-023-00913-9

  • Baker KF, Spierings J, Brom M, Radstake T, Smith E, Weiss R, Burmester GR, member FBCWG, Bijlsma JW, McInnes I, Baker K, Lories R, Pitzalis C, Distler JH, Burmester G, Cope AP, Distler O, Spierings J, Hoffmann-Vold AM, Radstake T, Goess CA, Reinke-Breen L, Lauwerys B, Gerlag DM, Smith E, Singh R, Weiss R, Hegen M, Brom M, Oliver S, Vesely R. Cure as a treatment target in rheumatoid arthritis and systemic sclerosis—achievable aim or mission impossible? FOREUM stimulates new industry-academia collaboration. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. February 2025.
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/ard-2024-226772

  • Spiliopoulou A, Iakovliev A, Plant D, Sutcliffe M, Sharma S, Cubuk C, Lewis M, Pitzalis C, Barton A, McKeigue PM. Genome‐Wide Aggregated Trans Effects Analysis Identifies Genes Encoding Immune Checkpoints as Core Genes for Rheumatoid Arthritis. Arthritis & Rheumatology. January 2025.
    DOI: 1002/art.43125.

  • Gandolfo S, Bombardieri M, Pers J-O, Mariette X, Ciccia F. Precision medicine in Sjögren's disease. The Lancet Rheumatology. September 2024.
    DOI: 1016/s2665-9913(24)00039-0.

  • Mauro D, Lin X, Pontarini E, Wehr P, Guggino G, Tang Y, Deng C, Gandolfo S, Xiao F, Rui K, Huang E, Tian J, Raimondo S, Rischmueller M, Boroky J, Downie-Doyle S, Nel H, Baz-Morelli A, Hsu A, Maraskovsky E, Barr A, Hemon P, Chatzis L, Boschetti CE, Colella G, Alessandro R, Rizzo A, Pers J-O, Bombardieri M, Thomas R, Lu L, Ciccia F. CD8+ tissue-resident memory T cells are expanded in primary Sjögren's disease and can be therapeutically targeted by CD103 blockade. September 2024. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. September 2024.
    DOI:1136/ard-2023-225069

  • Thomas B, Montero Melendez T, Oggero S, Kaneva M, Chambers D, Pinto A, Nerviani A, Lucchesi D, Austin-Williams S, HUSSAIN M, Allen B, Pitzalis C, Malcangio M, Dell’Accio F, Norling L, Perretti M. Molecular determinants of neutrophil extracellular vesicles that drive cartilage regeneration in inflammatory arthritis. Arthritis & Rheumatology. December 2024.
    DOI: 1002/art.42958. 

  • Hanlon MM, Smith CM, Canavan M, Neto NGB, Song Q, Lewis MJ, O'Rourke AM, Tynan O, Barker BE, Gallagher P, Mullan R, Hurson C, Moran B, Monaghan MG, Pitzalis C, Fletcher JM, Nagpal S, Veale DJ, Fearon U. Loss of synovial tissue macrophage homeostasis precedes rheumatoid arthritis clinical onset. Science Advances. September 2024.
    DOI:1126/sciadv.adj1252 

  • Zack S. R, Alzoubi O, Satoeya N, Singh KP, Deen S, Nijim W, Lewis MJ, Pitzalis C, Sweiss N, Ivashkiv LB, Shahrara S. Another Notch in the Belt of Rheumatoid Arthritis. Arthritis & Rheumatology. August 2024.
    DOI:1002/art.42937.

  • Price E. J., Benjamin S, Bombardieri M, Bowman S, Carty S, Ciurtin C, Crampton B, Dawson A, Fisher B.A., Giles I, Glennon P, Gupta M, Hackett K.L., Larkin G, Ng W-F, Ramanan A.V., Rassam S, Rauz S, Smith G, Sutcliffe N, Tappuni A, Walsh S.B. British Society for Rheumatology guideline on management of adult and juvenile onset Sjögren disease. Rheumatology, 64(2), 409-439. February 2025
    DOI:1093/rheumatology/keae152 & Executive Summary: British Society for Rheumatology guideline on management of adult and juvenile onset Sjögren disease. Rheumatology, 64(2), 396-408. February 2025 
    DOI: 10.1093/rheumatology/keae218

  • Sakaue S, Weinand K, Isaac S, Dey KK, Jagadeesh K, Kanai M, Watts GFM, Zhu Z; Accelerating Medicines Partnership® RA/SLE Program and Network; Brenner MB, McDavid A, Donlin LT, Wei K, Price AL, Raychaudhuri S. Tissue-specific enhancer- gene maps from multimodal single-cell data identify causal disease alleles. Nat Genet. 2024 Apr;56(4):615-626. Epub 2024 Apr 9. PMID: 38594305.
    DOI: 10.1038/s41588-024-01682-1

  • Weisenfeld D, Zhang F, Donlin L, Jonsson AH, Apruzzese W, Campbell D; Accelerating Medicines Partnership Program: RA/SLE Network; Rao DA, Wei K, Holers VM, Gravallese E, Moreland L, Goodman S, Brenner M, Raychaudhuri S, Filer A, Anolik J, Bykerk V, Liao KP. Associations Between Rheumatoid Arthritis Clinical Factors and Synovial Cell Types and States. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2024 Mar;76(3):356-362. Epub 2024 Jan 19. PMID: 37791989; PMCID: PMC10922423.
    DOI: 10.1002/art.42726

  • Kang JB, Shen AZ, Gurajala S, Nathan A, Rumker L, Aguiar VRC, Valencia C, Lagattuta KA, Zhang F, Jonsson AH, Yazar S, Alquicira-Hernandez J, Khalili H, Ananthakrishnan AN, Jagadeesh K, Dey K; Accelerating Medicines Partnership Program: Rheumatoid Arthritis and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (AMP RA/SLE) Network; Daly MJ, Xavier RJ, Donlin LT, Anolik JH, Powell JE, Rao DA, Brenner MB, Gutierrez-Arcelus M, Luo Y, Sakaue S, Raychaudhuri S. Mapping the dynamic genetic regulatory architecture of HLA genes at single-cell resolution. Nat Genet. 2023 Dec;55(12):2255-2268.
    DOI: 10.1038/s41588-023-01586-6
Back to top