Faculty

Bio

Bryce A. Binstadt, MD, PhD, is an Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology and a Distinguished University Teaching Professor. Dr. Binstadt cares for children with arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis, and related rheumatologic disorders. He heads a laboratory in the University of Minnesota's Center for Immunology focused on understanding the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases with particular emphasis on immune-mediated cardiovascular disease. He is the Director of the Pediatric Rheumatology Fellowship Training Program, an Associate Director of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD), and Director of the Pediatric Physician Scientist Training Program.

Dr. Binstadt received his MD degree from Mayo Medical School and his PhD in Immunology from Mayo Graduate School in Rochester, MN. He then completed his residency in the Boston Combined Residency Program in Pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital and Boston Medical Center, followed by fellowship training in Pediatric Rheumatology at Boston Children's Hospital. He served as an attending physician in the Rheumatology Program at Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School as well as a research fellow in the Section on Immunology and Immunogenetics at the Joslin Diabetes Center for two years before joining the faculty at the University of Minnesota in 2007. Dr. Binstadt is board-certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Rheumatology.

Research Summary

Autoimmunity, Innate Immunity
The Binstadt Laboratory is broadly interested in autoimmune disease pathogenesis.

One main line of investigation focuses on how systemic autoimmune diseases lead to cardiovascular inflammation and damage. We use the K/BxN T cell receptor (TCR) transgenic mouse model. K/BxN mice spontaneously develop both inflammatory arthritis and autoimmune valvular carditis. We use this model to study the effector pathways driving the cardiac valve inflammation. Current projects seek to understand the key contributions of macrophage subsets and cytokines in this model.

A second line of research focuses on the potential role of dual TCR T cells in the development of autoimmune diseases. Ongoing projects are focused on a) the contribution of dual TCR T cells to type I diabetes and other autoimmune diseases and b) engineering a dual TCRα reporter mouse.

Finally, new projects seek to understand the contribution of the nervous system to inflammatory arthritis, using the K/BxN serum-transferred arthritis model.

Current Funding Sources:

• National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• American College of Rheumatology/Rheumatology Research Foundation

Clinical Summary

Juvenile dermatomyositis; Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis; Pediatric autoimmune diseases; Systemic lupus erythematosus

Bio

Colleen Correll is an Associate Professor in the Division of Pediatric Rheumatology. After earning her medical degree from Rush Medical College in Chicago, Dr. Correll completed her residency in Pediatrics at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. She moved to Minnesota in 2011 to complete both her Pediatric Rheumatology Fellowship and a Master's Degree in Epidemiology. Dr. Correll has been a faculty member at the University of Minnesota since 2014.

Research Summary

Dr. Correll's research interests are in the epidemiology of pediatric rheumatic diseases, including impact on service and educational planning for community providers, as well as studies of risk factors associate with rheumatic diseases.

Bio

Patricia Hobday, MD, is a 2013 graduate of the Division of Pediatric Rheumatology Fellowship Program at the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Hobday received her MD degree from Mayo Medical School in Rochester, Minnesota. She completed Pediatric residency at the University of Minnesota and went on to complete an additional year as Chief resident. She is board-certified in Pediatrics.

At the University of Minnesota, Dr. Hobday cares for children arthritis and other related conditions such as dermatomyositis and systemic lupus erythematosus.

Bio

Shawn Mahmud is a Pediatric Rheumatologist who completed MD/PhD (MSTP), residency, and fellowship training at the University of Minnesota.  He provides care to children with autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases including juvenile idiopathic arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis, mixed connective tissue disease, chronic noninfectious osteitis, vasculitis, and others. He has a long-standing interest in immunology, specifically CD4+ T cell biology. During his graduate training, Dr. Mahmud made contributions to our understanding of how regulatory T cells develop in the thymus.  His current focus is in developing peptide:MHCII tetramer-based approaches to identify, track, and phenotype important antigen-specific populations of CD4+ T cells in human disease.  

Bio

Dr. Mona Riskalla is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota (UMN). She has also taken on the role of Co-Director for the Pediatric Uveitis Program at Minnesota Lions Children's Eye Clinic. Dr. Riskalla received her MD degree from Michigan State University. She completed her Pediatric residency at the University of Michigan and her Fellowship in Pediatric Rheumatology at the University of Michigan. Additionally, she has an MS in Biostatistics/Clinical Research Design and Statistical Analysis from the University of Michigan.

Clinical Summary

Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis; Juvenile Myositis; Systemic Lupus Erythematosus; Inflammatory Eye Disease; Uveitis

Bio

Nathan Schuldt, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Rheumatology. Dr. Schuldt runs a laboratory at the University of Minnesota's Center for Immunology. His laboratory investigates the origins of autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes (T1D) and multiple sclerosis (MS). Dr. Schuldt has particular interest in T cell development, tolerance, and fate decisions.

Dr. Schuldt earned his PhD in Genetics in 2012 at Michigan State University training in the laboratory of Andrea Amalfitano, DO, PhD. His graduate studies focused on the interactions between adenovirus and the immune system with the goal of improving adenovirus-based vectors for gene therapy and vaccination. He joined the University of Minnesota Center for Immunology in 2012 as a Postdoctoral Fellow.

Research Summary

Multiple immune tolerance mechanisms prevent self-reactive T cells from becoming pathogenic. Autoimmunity occurs when these mechanisms break down. Thymic selection, also referred to as central tolerance, is the first prevention a self-reactive T cell encounters. During this process antigen recognizing T cell receptors (TCRs) are tested against various self-peptides, those that react too strongly are either deleted or shuttled into the regulatory T cell lineage. My research aims to understand how self-reactive T cells escape this process and initiate autoimmune disease.

One hypothesized method is through the expression of two different TCRs on a single T cells. An estimated 10-20% of all T cells express two functionally recombined TCRs. We hypothesize that this dual TCR expression can limit deletion and regulatory T cell commitment of strongly self-reactive T cells in the thymus. This could explain how self-reactive T cells escape the thymus and enter the periphery as pathogenic T cells. Dual TCR expression is hypothesized to play important roles in several other immune contexts including allo-responses in graft rejection, allergy, and protective immunity. We have developed new tools in our lab that allow us to detect and study dual TCR T cells in several immune contexts.

A second area of interest for the lab is neonatal immune development. At birth, the adaptive immune system is underdeveloped and may function differently than that of adults. As a result, infections are common in neonates and infants. The Schuldt Lab has begun a collaboration to investigate how early microbial exposure influences the development of adaptive immunity. Improved understanding of neonatal adaptive immunity could lead to improved vaccine platforms.