The 2025 Myasthenia Gravis Rare Disease Network (MGNet) Scholar Awardees are Drs. Patricia Sikorski and Alexandra Bayer Wildberger.
Alexandra Bayer Wildberger, PhD, is a postdoctoral associate with Dr. Kevin O'Connor at Yale School of Medicine. She completed a Masters in Molecular and Cellular Biology and a PhD in Cell Biology and Immunology at the Sorbonne University in Paris. Dr. Wildberger's project proposes to investigate the molecular mechanisms through which autoreactive immunoglobulin M (IgM) may contribute to the pathology of acetylcholine receptor antibody-positive myasthenia gravis (MG).
Patricia Sikorski, PhD, is a postdoctoral associate at George Washington University in the Laboratory for Myasthenia Gravis Research, which is directed by Dr. Linda Kusner. Dr. Sikorski completed a Masters and PhD in Microbiology and Immunology at Georgetown University and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Sikorski's project investigates the hypothesis that bias towards a stronger immune responses in women drives enhanced differentiation into atypical B cell and dysregulated T cells in the thymus.
Special thank you to the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America, Conquer MG, Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of Michigan, and argenx—we always appreciate your support in making our mission for this research consortium possible.
The Myasthenia Gravis Rare Disease Network (MGNet) is part of the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network (RDCRN), which is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and led by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) through its Division of Rare Diseases Research Innovation (DRDRI). MGNet is funded under grant number U54NS115054 as a collaboration between NCATS and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).
