Dr. Rawlings directs the Center for Immunity and Immunotherapies (CIIT) at Seattle Children’s Research Institute (SCRI) and is also chief of the Division of Immunology at Seattle Children’s Hospital (SCH). The SCH Immunology clinical program serves as the major referral center for pediatric and adult patients in the Pacific Northwest and nationally. The program is responsible for diagnosis and management of patients with genetic immune disorders. In collaboration with the Stem Cell Transplant program, the Immunology team jointly coordinates protocols for transplantation or gene therapy. As part of these efforts, Dr. Rawlings leads the CIIT’s basic and translational immunology research programs that includes 14 independent investigators focused on human immune disorders. He also directs the Program for Cell and Gene Therapy (PCGT) leading development of novel gene therapy and gene editing approaches for genetic immune diseases.
Dr. Rawlings’ independent research group includes over 30 members focused on studies of altered lymphoid development and signaling leading to immunodeficiency, autoimmunity and/or malignancies, and development of gene therapy and gene editing for immune diseases. The Rawlings Lab uses expertise in basic and clinical immunology, signal transduction and developmental biology to understand how altered signals can lead to immunologic disease, with the goal of developing translational therapies that specifically modulate key pathways. Most recently, his group established methods to generate engineered regulatory T cells and drug-secreting B cells; resulting in multiple patents and formation of new biotechs including GentiBio and BeBiopharma leveraging these novel cell therapies.