Work Email Address:
dkaufman@mednet.ucla.edu
Lab Number:
310-206-3350
Office Phone Number:
310-794-9664
https://people.healthsciences.ucla.edu/institution/personnel?personnel_id=45958
Laboratory Address:
Dept. Molecular & Medical Pharmacology, Center for Health Science room 23-167
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Office Address:
23-167 Center for Health Science
Dept. of Molecular & Medical Pharmacology
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
90095-1735
Los Angeles, CA 90095
| Affiliations |
| Professor, Molecular & Medical Pharmacology |
| Member, Brain Research Institute, Immunity, Microbes & Molecular Pathogenesis GPB Home Area, Molecular Pharmacology GPB Home Area, Neuroscience GPB Home Area |
Research in our lab is focused on 1) understanding the basis for immune-mediated disorders and 2) developing new therapeutics in preclinical models to help alleviate these disorders. A diagnostic test and two therapeutics for type 1 diabetes that our lab helped to develop are now in clinical use or are being tested in clinical trials. Second, we have demonstrated that immune cells express receptors for the neurotransmitter GABA and that the activation of these receptors can safely inhibit their inflammatory activities. Based on their anti-inflammatory actions, we have shown that the administration of GABA receptor agonists can inhibit or reverse type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis in mouse models. Most recently, we have pivoted our work to study whether GABA treatment could be repurposed to help treat the excessive immune responses that cause severe illness in COVID-19 patients. We have shown that GABA treatment very effectively prevents severe disease and death in a mouse model of COVID-19. Our future research will continue to develop ways to help modulate dysregulated immune responses in human diseases.