During her PhD and subsequent post doctoral research, Dr Pericleous worked primarily on antiphospholipid autoantibodies (aPL), the serological hallmark for APS and an independent risk factor for CVD in SLE. Of all autoantibody families, aPL are the best characterised for their ability to induce a procoagulant, proinflammatory and oxidative endothelial phenotype. However, the molecular mechanisms that underpin these aPL-mediated changes to endothelial function are ill-defined. In SLE, other autoantibody families could also contribute to CVD, but this area remains largely unexplored. Dr Pericleous' fellowship focuses on delineating the intracellular molecular basis of autoantibody-mediated endothelial dysfunction in order to improve our understanding of vasculopathy in APS and SLE, with the ultimate aim of identifying novel therapeutic targets to modulate dysfunction in patients with systemic autoimmune diseases.