[HAI Membership Roster] [HAI Meeting Rosters]

The Hypersensitivity, Autoimmune, and Immune-mediated [HAI] Diseases Study Section reviews applications concerned with basic, pre-clinical, and clinical investigations, involving autoimmune diseases, hypersensitivity and allergic diseases, asthma, primary and secondary states of immunodeficiency syndrome (non-AIDS), and inflammatory diseases. Emphasis is on the etiology, initiation, immunopathophsiology, prevention and treatment of diseases in which the immune system (innate and adaptive) is the major contributor.  Approaches include human studies, in vitro studies of patient materials, animal models, and genomic and proteomic approaches to immune-mediated disease questions.  Specific areas covered by HAI:

• Etiology of immune-mediated diseases: hormonal, developmental, environmental factors (infectious and non-infectious) and lifestyle factors, and genetic. 
• Initiation of immune-mediated diseases:  activation of innate and antigen specific responses, co-stimulators, cytokine regulation/polarization, regulatory cells and recruitment of inflammatory cells. 
• Immunopathophysiology of immune-mediated diseases:  the balance of effector and regulatory factors and cells as well as mechanisms of tissue damage leading to chronicity, remission or relapse, and genetic and exogenous factors modulating disease expression. 
• Immune-mediated diseases arising as a consequence of aging.
• Treatment of immune-mediated diseases:  antigen specific and non-specific drug and biologic approaches to tolerance to self or foreign antigens including vaccination, gene therapy, peptide and altered ligand approaches as well as cell-based approaches; development of biomarkers of disease and related activities, and outcome assessments in clinical studies; determinants of response to therapy. 
• Prevention of immune-mediated diseases:  identification of at-risk populations, immuno-epidemiology of genetic and environmental factors, and interventions aimed at altering the immune response so as to modify or prevent disease expression. 

Study sections with the most closely related areas of science listed in rank order are:

Innate Immunity and Inflammation Study Section [III] 
Transplantation, Tolerance and Tumor Immunology Study Section [TTT] 
Cellular and Molecular Immunology - A Study Section [CMIA] 
Cellular and Molecular Immunology - B Study Section [CMIB] 
Arthritis, Connective Tissue and Skin Study Section [ACTS] 
Clinical Neuroimmunology and Brain Tumors Study Section [CNBT] 
Lung Cellular, Molecular Immunology Study Section [LCMI]