Award: Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
Biography: Dr. Seng obtained her PhD from the University of Kansas in Microbiology and Immunology in 2019 and MD in 2021. Her dissertation work was focused on optimizing engineered regulatory T cells to treat Graft versus Host Disease. She completed Internal Medicine residency at UCSD in 2021. She is currently a Physician Scientist Training Program Fellow in Rheumatology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She joined the Bottini Lab in June 2023 and is co-mentored by Drs. Nunzio Bottini, Jon Giles and Peter Chen (Lung Institute). Dr. Seng’s research focuses on elucidating the immunologic mechanisms underlying rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD). In the Bottini laboratory, she integrates human lung tissue analysis with advanced techniques including single-cell RNA sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, and T cell receptor repertoire analysis to characterize pathogenic T cell subsets and their organization within tertiary lymphoid structures. Her work aims to identify novel cellular pathways driving autoimmune lung disease and to inform the development of targeted therapies.
Research Summary: About 10% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) develop a symptomatic lung disease called rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD). In RA-ILD, patients have inflammation in their lungs which leads to lung damage and scarring of the lung in a process called fibrosis. This scarring makes it hard to breath and causes poor oxygenation. Unfortunately, there are not many effective treatments for RA-ILD and the only cure for RA-ILD is lung transplant, which is not always successful. As a result, RA-ILD is the second leading cause of death in RA patients. My research has shown that there are large numbers of a specific immune cell called T peripheral helper (Tph) cells in the lungs of RA-ILD patients. These Tph cells can be found in large clusters of immune cells that cause inflammation and can be found near lung scar tissue. This research project will show how Tph cells cause these immune cell clusters to form and cause inflammation that leads to scarring. The long-term goal will be to determine how to target Tph cells and these immune cell clusters to help develop better testing and treatments for RA-ILD, improving the quality of life and overall survival of RA-ILD patients.
Links: Bottini Lab