The Pepple Lab is investigating the role of the innate immune system in ocular inflammation and studying new anti-inflammatory treatments for patients with uveitis.
Ocular inflammation, or uveitis, is potentially blinding disease that can affect people of all ages. Using cutting edge molecular methods, including multiplex cytokine analysis, optical coherence tomography angiography, in vivo bioluminescence imaging, and multicolor flow cytometry, the Pepple lab is studying eyes with uveitis to determine the key mediators of ocular inflammation. The lab is also testing compounds that target these key mediators to find promising new therapies for patients.
For the past 10 years, Dr. Pepple’s lab at South Lake Union has studied uveitis in rodent models of disease. Dr. Pepple and her team have identified specific cytokines — small proteins crucial to our immune system response — involved in different stages of eye inflammation. Using animal models, her lab has also tested novel anti-inflammatory therapies in collaboration with industry partners. A recent collaboration involved a Seattle biotech company that has developed a new molecule for blocking T-cell activation. T cells are immune cells responsible for initiating many forms of autoimmune uveitis.
Dr. Pepple’s research and clinical efforts all address her central career goal to prevent blindness in her patients with uveitis through effective medical management of ocular inflammation. Her research has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, Foundation Fighting Blindness, Research to Prevent Blindness, and generous gifts from donors, including Graham and Brenda Siddall and Mark J. Daily, MD