Project DISSECT-SPA Queen Mary University of London (UK) Research group Prof. Costantino Pitzalis

DISSECT-SPA = Dissecting immunopathology in Spondyloarthropathies

Discovering Novel Pathogenetic Mechanisms to Develop Effective Therapeutic Strategies

Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) www.qmul.ac.uk.  QMUL is one of the world-class research-intensive higher-education institutions, part of the Russell Group, ranked 7th among multi-faculty universities at the most recent UK national assessment– the Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021).


QMUL offers cutting-edge research facilities and resources across the University, as well as many opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. QMUL, in partnership with Bart’s Health NHS Trust, has recently been awarded one of the prestigious National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centres (BRC), which are collaborations between world-leading universities and NHS organisations that attract and bring together best academics and clinicians to translate lab-based scientific discoveries into potential new treatments, diagnostics and medical technologies.


Centre for Experimental Medicine & Rheumatology (EMR). EMR opened in 2007, is part of the William Harvey Research Institute (WHRI, >400 staff www.whri.qmul.ac.uk) and works closely with other Centres and Institutes on the Charterhouse Square campus in London. EMR is led by Professor Costantino Pitzalis, a senior clinical academic Professor of Rheumatology with over 30 years’ experience of Rheumatology / Immunology research focusing on the mechanisms of autoimmunity and joint destructions, precision medicine and innovative clinical trials in inflammatory arthritis (publications:354, source PubMed; h-index:88, source Google Scholar).

EMR comprises an integrated, multidisciplinary research team of about 60 people including Clinicians, Scientists, Biostatisticians and Bioinformaticians dedicated to Rheumatology research focusing on translation and its mission is to gain a better understanding of disease pathogenesis, which can be used to develop novel therapeutics, or maximise therapeutic utility of existing therapies, for several autoimmune conditions including Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and Spondyloarthropathies (SpA), the focus of the research funding by the Ceschina Foundation.

EMR was competitively awarded an Arthritis Research UK Experimental Arthritis Treatment Centre and, more recently, a EULAR Centre of Excellence 2023-2028.

EMR leads the musculoskeletal (MSK) theme of the newly awarded £21M NIHR Barts Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). The BRC comprises 4 themes aimed at developing new ways to diagnose and treat cancer, musculoskeletal conditions and heart disease, based on a precision medicine approach. The MSK BRC theme led by EMR encompasses bio-informatician analysis, organ on-a chip development, small molecules testing, precision medicine trials, and development of a single cell platform.

EMR offers advanced training to clinical and non-clinical Fellows as follows:
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• Advanced Training in Clinical Rheumatology

• Advanced Training in Laboratory Translational Research

• Advanced Training Clinical Research Methodologies and Bioinformatics 

EMR has contributed to the training of the first two Ceschina Foundation International Fellows: Dr Federica Macaluso and Dr Mikalena Xenophontos