The K Forum brings together clinician-scientists with a NIAMS K08 or K23 award.

Research from NIAMS’ Michael Ombrello is a focus of a recent essay in The New Yorker: "Nobody Has My Condition But Me," by Beverly Gage.

Recently, a small IRP study showed that exercise training can help reduce the debilitating fatigue that often accompanies the autoimmune disease known as lupus, and also illuminated some of the underlying mechanisms that may lead to those benefits.

As many as 2.5 million Americans live with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, or ME/CFS for short. It’s a serious disease that can often arise after an infection, leaving people profoundly ill for decades with pain, cognitive difficulties, severe fatigue, and other debilitating symptoms.

In 2020, a team of NIH researchers reported the discovery of a rare and often-deadly inflammatory disorder, which they named VEXAS. Affected people have varying symptoms that can include anemia, recurrent fevers, painful rashes, blood clots, and shortness of breath.

A research team led by Dr. Hasan Erbil Abaci of Columbia University has been working on methods to make 3D engineered skin in the shape of complex body parts. Such custom grafts could then be transplanted intact, with minimal suturing required.

This past summer, the NIAMS Intramural Research Program’s (IRP’s) Career Development and Outreach Branch (CDOB), welcomed the first hybrid class of interns to the Intramural Virtual Training Research Opportunities (InVTRO) program.

To keep your teeth and gums healthy for a lifetime, it’s important to brush and floss each day and see your dentist regularly. But what you might not often stop to consider is how essential good oral health really is to your overall well-being. The mouth, after all, is connected to the rest of the body, and oral infections can contribute to problems elsewhere.

Lindsey A. Criswell, M.D., M.P.H., D.Sc., Director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), encourages researchers she supports to think outside the box. Dr. Criswell talked with NIH MedlinePlus Magazine about how diverse ideas can help us better understand conditions such as autoimmune diseases (when the immune system attacks healthy cells by mistake) and initiatives that promote diversity and inclusion in research.