Choreographing the ups and downs of living with Lupus

Featuring

  • Tislarm Bouie (Choreography / Dance)
  • Alessandra Pernis (Hospital for Special Surgery; Autoimmunity & Inflammation Program)

Overview

The Pernis Lab is interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms employed by lymphocytes to accurately respond to the signals that guide them along specific pathways and activities. Lymphocytes, including B & T cells, are cells of the immune system that play a critically active role in fighting off disease and infections. The Pernis lab is particularly interested in understanding how when things go wrong in the immune system, it can lead to autoimmunity (the immune system starts attacking ‘self’) such as in Lupus (SLE) and Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). Their goal is to gain a mechanistic understanding of the signaling pathways that control both physiologic (normal) and pathologic (disease inducing) immune (T cell) responses and further delineate the molecular networks responsible for lymphocyte dysfunction in autoimmune diseases, a detailed understanding of which will enable us to gain a better understanding of the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases like SLE and RA and provide important information for the development of novel therapeutic regimens for the treatment of SLE and RA

Solstice is a work about a young woman living with Lupus. It shows the effect the disease can have on ones daily life, fighting against all odds and to keep going when you feel like the world is caving in on you. You must live life to its fullest potential!

Bios

Tislarm Bouie

Tislarm Bouie was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated The Professional Performing Arts School/ of New York City, as a dance major in partnership with The Ailey School. He received his B.F.A in dance from The University of the Arts. Tislarm has also studied at The Mark Morris Dance School, Joffrey Ballet School and Philadelphia School of the Arts. He has attended summer intensives at Britney Spears Camp for the Performing Arts, Ballet Hispanico, Broadway Dance Center and Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts all on scholarship. He was a member of Philadanco’s 2nd Company, Ronald K. Brown’s Evidence Dance Company (US Tour), performed with Chinese recording artist Jo (Chinese Tour), is currently on faculty at Steps on Broadway. He was recently featured in a Macys and World Cup 2014 commercial. He is a client of MSA Talent Agency. Tislarm’s choreography was featured at The Young Choreographers and the Dumbo Dance Festival and on the Cocoa Cola Tour with Def Jam recording artist Karina Pasian. He is excited to see what “The love of his life” dance has to offer.

Alessandra Pernis

Hospital for Special Surgery; Autoimmunity & Inflammation Program

The Pernis Lab is interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms employed by lymphocytes to accurately respond to the signals that guide them along specific pathways. Lymphocytes are cells of the immune system that respond to infections and disease. Initial work in the Pernis lab focused on Interferon Regulatory Factor 4 (IRF4), which functions as a transcription factor and is highly expressed (present) in cells of the immune system. A transcription factor is a protein that binds to specific DNA sequences, thereby controlling the flow (or transcription) of genetic information from DNA to ultimately produce a native protein (via an intermediary called messenger RNA). Transcription factors can perform their function alone or with other proteins in a complex, by promoting (as an activator), or blocking (as a repressor) the flow of genetic information. Activating or repressing the flow of genetic information in a cell can have profound but various effects on cellular growth, activity, and function.

Absence of the transcription factor IRF4 leads to profound defects in the function and homeostasis (balance) of particular lymphocyte subsets of the immune system called, T and B lymphocyte cells. Early studies in the Pernis lab demonstrated that IRF4 is up-regulated in response to lymphocyte cell activation and that it controls crucial cell processes like cytokine (chemical mediators responsible for ‘communication’ between immune cells) production and apoptosis (programmed cell death); directly supporting the idea that IRF4 plays a central role in lymphocyte biology.

Recent studies from the Pernis lab, have demonstrated that IRF4 is a critical regulator of T lymphocyte cell differentiation (development) down a particular cell fate pathway called TH-17 and that IRF4 is absolutely required for the production of IL-17 and IL-21. IL-17 & IL-21 are two cytokines that have recently been implicated in the pathogenesis of multiple autoimmune disorders including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE; lupus) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In order to gain a more detailed mechanistic understanding of the signaling pathways that control both physiologic and pathologic T cell responses, the Pernis lab is also presently studying the broader IRF4 regulatory network, which includes the protein Def6. The long-term goals of the laboratory are to employ both murine models and translational (clinical) approaches to further delineate the molecular networks responsible for lymphocyte dysfunction in autoimmune diseases. A detailed understanding of these mechanisms will enable us to gain a better understanding of the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases like SLE and RA and provide important information for the development of novel therapeutic regimens for the treatment of SLE and RA.