Understanding Myasthenia Gravis
Official title: Mechanisms of autoimmunity in myasthenia gravis
Funded at Yale University · NIH-10904878 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This work aims to better understand why the immune system attacks the body in Myasthenia Gravis, a condition causing muscle weakness.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Yale University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New Haven, United States) |
| Project start | August 1, 2015 |
| Project end | August 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $477,440 |
| NIH project number | 5R01AI114780-09 |
| Project ID | NIH-10904878 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
This foundational research is relevant to all patients with Myasthenia Gravis, particularly those with different ages of onset.
✕Less likely to help
Patients without Myasthenia Gravis would not directly benefit from this specific research.
What this research studies
Myasthenia Gravis causes severe muscle weakness because the body's immune system mistakenly creates antibodies that attack the connections between nerves and muscles. We know these antibodies interfere with muscle signals in a few ways, but the exact reasons for these attacks can differ between patients, especially depending on when their symptoms started. By looking closely at these differences, particularly in how the immune system behaves in the thymus gland, we hope to uncover the specific triggers and processes behind the disease. This deeper understanding is crucial for developing more effective and personalized treatments.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could lead to new ways to diagnose and treat Myasthenia Gravis by targeting the specific immune system problems in different patient groups.
How similar studies have gone: While the general mechanisms of Myasthenia Gravis are known, this work explores the specific, heterogeneous immunopathology, which is a less understood area.
Where this research is happening
-
Yale University
New Haven, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: O'connor, Kevin C — Yale University
- Study coordinator: O'connor, Kevin C
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
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Understanding how autoimmunity causes myasthenia gravis
This project looks at why the immune system attacks the nerve-muscle connection in myasthenia gravis and how different patient groups are affected.
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Biological age in myasthenia gravis: guiding who responds to treatment
A patient-friendly look at how a person’s biological age, not just their calendar age, might predict how MG patients respond to treatment and how treatments could even reduce biological aging.
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CapTURE-MG: A patient-friendly MG data toolkit in a common EHR
A multi-site effort to use a streamlined MG toolkit inside the Epic EHR to collect consistent, real-world information about myasthenia gravis from routine care.
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Rare Disease Network for Myasthenia Gravis
A nationwide effort to improve diagnosis, monitoring, and trial readiness for people with myasthenia gravis through biomarker work and better care tools.
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Understanding how autoimmune attacks cause myasthenia gravis
Researchers are studying how the immune system mistakenly targets the neuromuscular junction in myasthenia gravis to identify why the disease starts and how it progresses.
-
Mechanistically informed deep learning to study autoreactive B cells in Myasthenia Gravis
A study using advanced computer models to find hidden immune-cell signals in people with Myasthenia Gravis, including those who don’t yet show detectable antibodies.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.