Funded Projects

Through careful selection of submitted proposals and focused engagement of experts in disparate areas of science and medicine, the Scleroderma Research Foundation assembles a diverse portfolio of projects. These projects span multiple disciplines and facets of scleroderma research.

2022-2023 Funding Cycle

Funded Grants

Regulation of Inflammation and IFN-I response in the Fibrotic Skin Environment

Franck Barrat, PhD
Hospital for Special Surgery — Senior Scientist

View Project

Gene Regulatory Mechanisms in Scleroderma

Howard Chang, MD, PhD
Stanford University School of Medicine — Professor of Dermatology and of Genetics, Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer and Genomics and of Genetics
Howard Hughes Medical Institute — Investigator
NIH Center of Excellence in Genomic Science: Center for Personal Dynamic Regulome — Director

View Project

Epigenetics of Sex Differences in Scleroderma

Howard Chang, MD, PhD
Stanford University School of Medicine — Professor of Dermatology and of Genetics, Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer and Genomics and of Genetics
Howard Hughes Medical Institute — Investigator
NIH Center of Excellence in Genomic Science: Center for Personal Dynamic Regulome — Director

View Project

Genomics of Calcinosis

Lorinda Chung, MD, MS
Stanford University School of Medicine — Professor of Medicine

In collaboration with
Pravitt Gourh, MD
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases — MD Head, Scleroderma Genomics and Health Disparities Unit
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities — Adjunct Investigator

View Project

Lung Ultrasound for the Detection and Management of SSc-ILD

Lorinda Chung, MD, MS
Stanford University School of Medicine — Professor of Medicine

View Project

Cell Surface GlycoRNAs in Autoimmunity

Ryan Flynn, MD, PhD
Boston Children’s Hospital —Assistant Professor
Harvard University — Assistant Professor, Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology

In collaboration with
Livia Casciola-Rosen, PhD
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine — Professor of Medicine
Antony Rosen, MBChB, MS
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine — Vice Dean for Research

View Project

Elucidating the Role of Dynamic X Inactivation Maintenance in the Pathogenesis of SSc

Nikhil Jiwrajka
University of Pennsylvania — Fellow, Department of Rheumatology

View Project

Establishing a Spatially–integrated Transcriptomic, Epigenomic, and Histologic Signature of Fibrosis in Systemic Sclerosis

Michael Longaker, MD
Stanford University School of Medicine – Deane P. and Louise Mitchell Professor in the School of Medicine and Professor, by courtesy, of Materials Science and Engineering
Howard Chang, MD, PhD
Stanford University School of Medicine — Professor of Dermatology and of Genetics, Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer and Genomics and of Genetics
Howard Hughes Medical Institute — Investigator
NIH Center of Excellence in Genomic Science: Center for Personal Dynamic Regulome — Director

View Project

Macrophage-stromal Cell Interactions in Tissue Homeostasis and Fibrosis

Ruslan Medzhitov, PhD
Yale School of Medicine — Sterling Professor of Immunobiology
Howard Hughes Medical Institute — Investigator

View Project

Identification of Novel Pathogenic Genes in Juvenile Systemic Sclerosis

Kathryn Torok, MD 
Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital — Associate Professor of Medicine

In collaboration with
Dan Kastner, MD, PhD
National Human Genome Research Institute — Scientific Director of the Intramural Program
Elaine Remmers, PhD
National Human Genome Research Institute — Associate Investigator, Inflammatory Disease Section

View Project

Spatial Transcriptomics of Skin to Augment Understanding of Cellular Interactions and Disease Propagation in Juvenile Scleroderma

Kathryn Torok, MD 
Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital — Associate Professor of Medicine
Wei Chen, PhD
University of Pittsburgh — Professor of Pediatrics, Biostatistics, and Human Genetics

View Project

Next Generation Proteomics to Identify Novel Immune Targets for Scleroderma

Gerlinde Wernig, MD
Stanford University — Assistant Professor of Pathology

View Project

A Gene Expression Map of Scleroderma

Michael L. Whitfield, PhD
Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth — Chair and Professor of Biomedical Data Science; Professor of Molecular and Systems

View Project

Multi-omic Profiling of Interstitial Lung Disease in Systemic Sclerosis

Paul Wolters, MD
University of California, San Francisco — Professor of Medicine
Gerlinde Wernig, MD
Stanford University — Assistant Professor of Pathology
Howard Chang, MD, PhD
Stanford University School of Medicine — Professor of Dermatology and of Genetics, Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer and Genomics and of Genetics
Howard Hughes Medical Institute — Investigator
NIH Center of Excellence in Genomic Science: Center for Personal Dynamic Regulome — Director

View Project

Identifying Unique Molecular Profiles of Subtypes of Scleroderma-associated ILD

Paul Wolters, MD
University of California, San Francisco — Professor of Medicine

View Project

Identifying and Optimizing Care for Mechanistically-driven, Clinically-relevant Scleroderma Subgroups

Scott Zeger, PhD
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine — Professor of Biostatistics
Ami Shah, MD, MHS
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine – Associate Professor of Medicine

View Project

On-going Projects

Genome Research in African American Scleroderma Patients (The GRASP Project)

Fredrick Wigley, MD
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine — Director, the Johns Hopkins Scleroderma Center and Associate Director, Division of Rheumatology
Francesco Boin, MD
Cedars-SinaiDirector, Rheumatology Division, Kao Autoimmunity Institute

In collaboration with
Dan Kastner, MD, PhD
National Human Genome Research Institute — Scientific Director of the Intramural Program
Charles Rotimi, PhD
National Human Genome Research Institute
Pravit Gourh, MD
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases — MD Head, Scleroderma Genomics and Health Disparities Unit
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities — Adjunct Investigator

View Project

Scleroderma Twin Study

Howard Chang, MD, PhD
Stanford University School of Medicine — Professor of Dermatology and of Genetics, Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer and Genomics and of Genetics
Howard Hughes Medical Institute — Investigator
NIH Center of Excellence in Genomic Science: Center for Personal Dynamic Regulome — Director

View Project

Naturally Presented Topoisomerase Epitopes in Scleroderma Patients with HLA-DPB1*13:01

Erika Darrah, PhD
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine — Assistant Professor of Medicine
Eleni Tiniakou, MD
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine — Assistant Professor of Medicine

View Project

Scleroderma Research Foundation and Scleroderma Clinical Trials Consortium (SCTC) Jointly Funded Projects

CRISTAL: Developing the Combined Response Index for Scleroderma Trials Assessing Limited Cutaneous Systemic Sclerosis

Dinesh Khanna, MD, MSc of the University of Michigan and Alain Lescoat, MD of the University Hospital of Rennes

Systemic Sclerosis Interstitial Lung Disease Progression (SILPRO) Score: Development of a Disease-Specific Model to Define Progression of SSc-ILD

Cosimo Bruni, MD and Oliver Distler, MD of the University Hospital Zurich

Previous Funding Cycles

View Projects