Dr. Grunebaum continued his Immunology and Allergy training at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada, where he specialized in the management of inherited primary immunodeficiency diseases.
Dr. Grunebaum Joined the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, in 2002 as a Staff Clinician in the Division of Clinical Immunology and Allergy and as a Scientist in the Research Institute. His research has focused on improving the outcome of patients with severe combined immune deficiency undergoing bone marrow transplantation. In addition, in his lab, Dr. Grunebaum developed alternative treatments for severe immune abnormalities, including methods to replace the gene causing purine nucleoside phosphorylase deficiency. Recently, Dr. Grunebaum lab successfully harnessed small molecules for the delivery of missing enzymes into cells from patients with severe immune deficiency and animal models of such diseases. This enabled Dr. Grunebaum’s team to demonstrate for the first time the benefits of intracellular enzyme replacement therapy, which has to potential to help patients affected by variety of diseases. The grant awarded to Dr. Grunebaum by the Canadian Immunodeficiency Society will help Dr. Grunebaum continue developing treatments for patients with inherited immunodeficiency diseases.